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Using her faith as fuel, the author lays bare her soul in this raw and incredibly vulnerable chronicle of hope and fear. Rooted in scripture, the work and the themes presented within it are universal, depicting the human struggle to balance all aspects of their lives without losing themselves. For Ripley, a blessing in the form of baby Bryce is rife with obstacles, such as her child’s congenital heart disease (CHD), spearheaded by a faulty heart valve. The author’s unyielding tenacity, come what may, to ensure that Bryce is able to lead a quality life is something to truly marvel at. ... (read more)

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Featured Book Reviews

Designed success.

Writer Miller focuses on small businesses, specifically those that deal in remodeling and building trades, to demonstrate the need and the method for creating a comprehensive corporate plan. Any small business may struggle to survive. However, with a structured, all-encompassing proposition and the step-by-step processes that accompany its development, chances for success will greatly expand. ... (read more)

Transporting audiences into a riveting espionage thriller, Bornstein pushes the limits of science and technology to create a potentially cataclysmic outcome that is as plot-centric as it is character-driven. Loyalties are tested regularly, revealing the fortitude of the main characters and their determination to achieve their goals at all costs. Not your typical thriller, the narrative is tied to one’s roots, family, and being wronged in a way that can’t easily be forgiven. ... (read more)

Cast of Characters

The relationships between instructors working in a dysfunctional sociology department at a fictional Florida university in the late 1980s are realistically explored in this novella by educator McNeill. While many workplaces, whether in government, the private for-profit sector, or even non-profit organizations, have these ego-driven, ideological clashes that create a hostile environment for some employees but provide unfair advantages to others, this story reveals the particular problems that arise in academic settings, and in this case, with dramatic, destructive results. The drama is also a cautionary tale determined by various departmental cliques that disregard the warning signs of trouble ahead for not only department faculty but for the entire university and the outside community as well. ... (read more)

Juhani Murros made an unexpected discovery during his visits to art galleries when he worked for an organization in Ho Chi Minh City in 1990. A small still life in an unobtrusive gallery commanded the Finnish physician’s attention. “It was an unpretentious oil painting, yet its dark, mysterious colors and the emotional tension of its disciplined composition set it apart.” Thus began a long journey of discovering the art and life of Van Den, a frugal and kind Buddhist of mixed Chinese and Vietnamese ancestry who studied in Paris for less than two years during 1950-52, a volatile period during the first French Indochina War. ... (read more)

Clear Philosophy

The free will debate has raged for over 2,000 years. Do individuals have control over their own actions and decisions, or are these actions and decisions predetermined by the gods, logic, nature or nurture, or many other forms of determinism? In this new work by Kral, he takes the reader on an intellectual journey that attempts to provide an alternative to the free will question. Upon initial inspection, the question, at its heart, seems to imply either a yes or no with explanations while excluding other answers. However, Kral manages to create a compelling third option, which posits that the question itself is flawed. He argues that “will” cannot be considered free or not free. His reasoning breaks down what the word means in the context of this question, and his results lead him to create an additional theory about the source of human behavior. which he has titled procirclism. ... (read more)

Lyrical & Vivid

In the summer of 1956, eleven-year-old (soon to be twelve) Lily Grainger describes her family’s annual summer vacation at their undeveloped property on the shore of a salt pond on Cape Cod. As this coming-of-age novel progresses, it mirrors the Beaufort scale of wind velocities that mark each chapter heading with increasing speeds and potential damages, an apt reminder of the increasing tension in Lily’s parents’ marriage and the marriage of her forceful Uncle George and delicate Aunt Fanny. Lily describes this crescendo of life-changing events in the prologue: “All summer the storm gathered and gathered, took its breath from every direction we thought we knew, and lashed us into spindrift.” Interestingly, the summer of 1956 is meaningful historically as the shipwreck of the Andrea Doria happened nearby on a July evening. ... (read more)

By the Word

When the COVID-19 virus shuts down the Boston theater scene, Hallie, a theater set designer, loses her job, boyfriend, and apartment. Her friend, Maria, offers a lifeline when she invites Hallie to move in with her and her husband, Mike. Maria’s friend Lisa invites Maria, Mike, and Hallie to come to their vacation home on the Cape for an extended stay away from the horrors of the virus. The very wealthy Lisa and Paul also invite a friend, Quinn. As everyone settles in for a relaxing first night, it is obvious that Hallie and Quinn are very compatible. ... (read more)

Author Paulson recounts her visions, conversations, travels, and training with the one she calls Jeshua—Jesus—and some of his followers in this touchingly transcendent memoir. Her connection with the etheric realm began in October 1999 when she found herself involved in incidents of “cross channeling.” During these times she would speak truth, and others would listen and take her words seriously. However, she could never remember what she had said. She began to read books based on such experiences and point to a connection in mind and heart to higher realities. Still, she would not have said she was special or overly religious at the time. ... (read more)

Triump & Tragedy

Odell, a television video editor and faculty emeritus at the City College of San Francisco, compiled his father and mother’s love letters from 1939–1944 in this award-winning epistolatory memoir of their love affair, engagement, and early marriage. Set against the dramatic backdrop of World War II, the letters shine a light upon the strength, determination, and resilience of the youngest members of the Greatest Generation, many of whom were lost in the seas, skies, and battlefields of the European and Pacific theaters of war. In this case, the author’s father and mother wrote quite often to one another—every few days, just as they did when pursuing their educations before the war. They steadfastly proclaimed their love in each letter, commenting upon their daily activities and planning for their future after the war, giving readers a concrete, vivid look at early 1940s life and culture during the European air war and on the American homefront. ... (read more)

Myths & Magic

Prince Khael Stratton is a mystic who seeks to deepen his knowledge of such arts to help those in need. Following a mission, he reports to the city of Cambridge—ruled over by his brother—and has a close encounter with a pickpocket who steals his signet ring. Alongside his bodyguard, Grant, the prince manages to track down the young woman, Vixen, who suffers from a foggy memory while demonstrating a great talent for skills associated with assassins. Prince Khael finds it an odd happenstance in a time when a terrorist group known as the Chelevkori are making active attempts to eliminate the royal family for a perceived wrongdoing by his grandfather, Loren, and it is further compounded by reports that tyrannical rule has seized the city of Skemmelsham over which he rules. Prince Khael forges a contract with Vixen, and with Grant, they go on a journey to liberate the city. ... (read more)

Transformation

Fred counts on his dad when his inability to keep a job and keep his weight in check causes conflict with his mom and sister. When Fred’s dad dies and his sister (his primary income buffer) moves away, Fred and his mom are on their own until Fred’s wrestling champion girlfriend, Mary Ellen, arrives, giving Fred the boost he needs to defend himself, literally and figuratively. ... (read more)

Encouragement

Author Harris recalls the incidents and inspirations that he has encountered on his life’s path in this engaging autobiography. His inner aspirations were evident from his early school days when he demonstrated abilities in graphic arts and was encouraged to use his creativity, writing a play in fifth grade. His Christian upbringing led him to organize a revival meeting at his church, and it was there, in 1982, that a preacher urged him to “Get off that limb,” explaining that one can’t make apple pie until one picks the apple from the tree, a lesson that Harris has carried with him ever since. ... (read more)

The Journey

Author Jeffries recalls his personal history, expanding it to a broad vision of his nation and the world. Born during World War II, he recognized early on that men in his parents’ “Greatest Generation” were spurred by the trauma that all warfare can evoke and, therefore, strove to achieve more once they returned home, building new neighborhoods and aiming for meaningful employment. Similarly, American women who had contributed industrial efforts to the nation’s defense, symbolized by the popular image of “Rosie the Riveter,” resolved to be conscientious wives and parents while also starting to seek outside employment. The postwar years thus wrought numerous upswings in ordinary American life. Meanwhile, citizens of central Europe, where whole cities had been obliterated, were still grappling with extremely challenging aftermaths. One ominous signal was the burgeoning of Russian communism and its concomitant movements of socialism and similar, politically far-left movements. ... (read more)

Author Stephenson recounts his many experiences in counseling those who were nearing death, revealing a deeper understanding of such suffering and the ways that hope can be found. His human-scale vignettes of those he assisted open with young Anthony, suffering from cancer, who liked to draw. His artistic innovations would later lead to a memorable gathering of friends and family, including the author, with Anthony leading everyone in song. Kathy, a deeply discouraged young woman, was asked by Stephenson to interview fellow patients, which gave her “a reason to get up every day.” ... (read more)

Artful & Entertaining

Gavin DiMasi has a terrible childhood of being tormented by his twin brother and their father. But when his parents and brother die, DiMasi is the last man standing to deal with all of the family's dirty laundry. Not only were his father and brother cruel, but they also left a mob mess to mop up. DiMasi's wife tries to save him from his memories and the mob while simultaneously working to protect herself and their child from being sucked into his dark world. Readers learn from DiMasi and his wife's dialogues with their counselor, Dr. Pederson, and are reminded of the slow road to recovery. Pederson says, "If Gavin’s life were fiction, his behavior would self-correct after one explanation. But words can’t rewire the neurological damage from his lifetime of traumatic assaults." ... (read more)

John Darque, or “Chadeaux,” as his friends call him, is the leader of a top-secret organization inside the United States. Only a select few know of its true existence. While he is visiting the grave of a murdered friend and partner, Casper, at the Arlington National Cemetery, a bomb explodes. This incident happens after a U.S. Border Patrol Agent is found dead with the words “Chadeaux” carved into his body. Darque and his team, which includes the love of his life, Penny Miller, soon find that Iran and China are working together to not only get rid of the intelligence agent but bring the United States to its knees. The mission for Darque becomes personal—not because of the bounty on his head, but because he may finally have the chance to come face-to-face with Casper’s killer. ... (read more)

Joneb works on Captain Milroy's spaceship. Most of the crew members are related to the Captain. Joneb likes it there and wishes to become part of this family. He is taken by Captain Milroy's niece, Rojas. One day, they dock at the Durban Outpost in the Danube solar system, and the Captain orders Joneb to go to the general cargo office to get a box. Unfortunately, an explosion destroys the cargo bay at the outpost. Somehow, Joneb makes it out alive with the box. The Captain finds it suspicious that it took Joneb hours to return to the ship. However, they find evidence that he did not cause the explosion. Consequently, Joneb is cleared of any wrongdoing and restored to his duties. The Captain trusts Joneb's reliability and assigns him to assist with their upcoming mission. ... (read more)

Everyman Rising

It is 1967, and Paul Stevens works as an assistant controller at a large company in New York. Paul has two young sons and is expecting another with his wife, Elaine. Like many people in this life, Paul is experiencing Thoreau’s quiet desperation. On a routine train trip to his office, Paul overhears two men discussing a promising new stock. When Paul unexpectedly comes into money left to him by his aunt, he dumps almost all of it into this stock, much to the chagrin of his wife. This awakens Paul’s greed, and he begins to pursue a risky move to take over the company for which he works, even breaking the law in the attempt. When everything crashes down on Paul, he and his wife separate, and Paul wallows in alcohol and self-pity.

Schiavoni has a background in finance, and his experience is shown in his writing. The situations his characters go through feel distinctly real and honest. His writing is professional, and the book is focused and easy to read. The overall theme of his novel is the classic fall from grace, and the work can be read as an extended parable against greed. The protagonist is a bit of an everyman, a feature that enables the reader to identify at least on some level with him. The book has a happy ending even if it is easily won. Readers who are interested in redemption stories and enjoy seeing their main character return from failure to the status quo will find this title to their liking. ... (read more)

Criminal Masterminds

This third book in the Yoga Mat Mysteries series begins on a light, meditative note, then spins away into the dark motifs of a mystery/ghost story/thriller mashup with a twist of romance. Ric Peters and Elaina Williams return in this tale, determined to relax and enjoy a holiday in Tasmania when ghosts from their personal pasts and the island’s collective past upend their plans for serenity. Elaina becomes a target of revenge for Ric’s past blunder in Indonesia that results in tragic loss of life, haunting Ric and threatening to destroy the couple’s budding relationship. ... (read more)

Find Christ

Timothy is the older brother of Jobe. Jobe is blinded in an accident, and his brother and father, Mark, rescue him. Guilt-ridden, Timothy begins a sojourn, which he at first believes will be brief and fairly easy to accomplish. The journey is significantly more complex than the young man anticipates. It takes many years and involves multiple tribulations as Timothy ultimately seeks out Jesus. When Timothy returns to his home, he discovers many changes—including his family's apparent dispersal. Of what use were those years on the quest? The answer to this eventually becomes clear. ... (read more)

Writer and poet Carter delves deeply into a religious tenet that has always attracted her, which is based upon the words of Samuel in the Holy Bible that “to obey is better than sacrifice.” This concept crystalized for her as various incidents revealed its essential truth. When she moved to the home of her new husband, its décor was not what she preferred, but she decided to conform to his wishes, avoiding changes and thanking God for the opportunity to obey. Later, circumstances allowed her to redecorate, confirming her sense that her obedience had been rewarded. Interspersed with her poems are recollections of phases of her life in which the “obedience” perspective takes a firmer hold. ... (read more)

Who Really Wins?

Success as the best revenge is a theme running through the stories in this collection. In the first and longest story, Black academics work to secure private funding for a Black history museum. Subsequent tales in the book feature a wide range of characters and situations. For example, a man’s choreographed murder gains financial freedom for his family. A nurse schedules surgery on her abuser. A rich senior gifts his care facility the technology that many fellow residents helped build but can’t afford. A woman gets the child she desires from the man she didn’t think she preferred. A Muslim man inherits a dog, although his love for the animal once ostracized him. A soldier leaves his wealth to the lesser of two evils. An ex-prisoner supplies the secret to his girlfriend’s dream restaurant. A motorized scooter ride turns into a story to tell the rider’s granddaughter. ... (read more)

Discovering

In the later years of her life, Agnes Ndungwa Akinyemi assembled much of her family and recounted her life story to them, sharing the surprising details and points of interest of where she, and by association, they had all come from. After her passing, her husband recollected that story here in this book, detailing the journey of a fifteen-year-old girl from a small village in Kangundo, Kenya, entering the United States on her own without family or an established support system to continue her education. Her journey would open doors that could only be unlocked by taking such a bold step. It was not by accident that this opportunity came up but through her hard work, as she was chosen for this new American program by the Kenyan government based on her performance in school up to this point. ... (read more)

Master Storyteller

In the small town of Flagler Beach, Florida, Wayne Garrett, a Flagler Beach local, lives a contented, comfortable life with his wife and three daughters. A postman for the town, his happy-go-lucky spirit extends to all he encounters. Wayne loves his job delivering mail to residents. He and his wife, Becky, the manager of a souvenir shop along Highway A1A, meet each day for a mid-morning coffee. They walk on the beach at night together or with their daughters. The family’s quiet life is idyllic. ... (read more)

The Spirits

Things aren’t going well for Ryan Trussell. His mother regrets his birth while chain-smoking throughout the day and ignoring any domestic needs. Meanwhile, his father comes home from work to several whiskeys and the solitude of the basement. At his new school, his math teacher immediately identifies him as a troublemaker, even though Ryan is a good student who prefers books to buffoonery. The only bright spot comes in the form of a girl he meets at the public library who likes books and the paranormal, much like Ryan. Ryan‘s best friend, his journal, keeps his secrets. However, even that changes as the two spirits that inhabit the house begin taking a keen interest in his family, and one of them communicates with Ryan through the journal. Both ghosts have experienced a violent death in the house, and they seek release. Small-town secrets, both past and present, will threaten those in Ryan’s circle. ... (read more)

Wicked Money

Sergey is a Russian gangster unafraid of taking out anyone perceived as an annoyance to him or his business. Hans is a family man from South Africa who is often called away to travel on business, except his business is death. Joe Scattini is an investment banker who is fending off attempts to have his financial division sold off. David Kettner is a banker engaged in money laundering who has opted to abscond with money that is the property of organized crime. As Joe fights to keep his division, he keeps large losses off the balance sheet and browbeats subordinates into compliance. David has fled the country with his girlfriend, and Hans is traversing the globe and silencing problematic witnesses for men like Sergey. Each day brings more danger. ... (read more)

Strains of Twain

Tomeo’s collection of short, whimsical verses was written as a balm against the trying times through which we have been living. His verses cover the gamut of human experience and are foremost linked thematically in their wit and attempt to make light of the human condition. There is the poem quoted above about art coming alive in a museum paralleled with one covering the rambunctious food left in the fridge. Another expands the colloquial wisdom shared with children about the effects of consuming a watermelon seed. At times, Tomeo tones down the humor and adds a little more tenderness and connectedness. For example, he closes the title poem by speaking of the hippopotamus, “Paving a route, creating streams, roads for other animals to navigate their way.” It is a nice allusion to his wish for humor to help us navigate our own way. ... (read more)

Reading the Stones

Poet Tomeo creates an emotive panorama as he walks within and contemplates a place where lives and deaths are recalled and commemorated: a graveyard. In this case, it is the Mount Saint Mary Cemetery in Flushing, New York. Of particular significance to him are the soldiers who gave their lives in service to their country. It is to them that Tomeo dedicates this work, naming them as they are listed on a stone memorial in Corona, Queens, New York. ... (read more)

An eruption has occurred at Sicily’s Mount Etna, and the destruction unleashed in its wake has been catastrophic. US government officials are concerned about a similar eruption at the Yellowstone caldera. Dr. Thomas “TJ” Jackson has been brought in to work with a team in preventing an even larger disaster. In a presentation to scientists and military officials, TJ raises concerns about how water depletion is fueling the instability of the caldera. He posits a plan to start pumping in water gradually to maintain the status quo and keep Yellowstone from blowing sky-high. However, the forces of government bureaucracy seek to undercut his plan. Despite some pushback, some agree with TJ and want to assist. One of his backers is disaster expert Catherine Craft. The pair will need to act quickly while avoiding menacing figures who will kill to thwart their plan. ... (read more)

Get Inspired

This book is a series of essays lovingly crafted by the author, documenting the lessons she has learned in her impressive lifetime. The selections are organized into sections that exemplify the actions of a full, well-lived life: communicating, participating, integrating, radiating, anticipating, appreciating, and celebrating. She shares stories from her childhood, such as an interaction with a neighbor who related a plant slowly blossoming to celebrating ourselves and our unique gifts in our own time. She also offers pithy bits of wisdom she has gained through her adult experiences, including different ways the COVID lockdown affected her life and relationships. Sprinkled in are reflections on books she has read or programs she has watched, as well as musings on aspects of life from friendships to family relationships to spending time outdoors. ... (read more)

This beguiling mystery covers approximately 125 years of families, pirates, poverty, treasure maps, and altruistic as well as criminal acts that take place on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The author tells the tale of an eccentric older man with a mysterious past who, in the early part of the twentieth century, gives treasure maps to two young girls. Shortly afterward, the man dies in a house fire. One of the girls hides some of the information in her father's home. Through the years, the story of the treasure—a small portion of which has been uncovered by the girls—as well as myths about the property and uncertainties about the land's ownership inspire curiosity, amateur treasure hunting, alliances among eccentric neighbors, life-threatening situations, and murder. ... (read more)

Culture & Language

Recognizing that many people in the U.S. enjoy the way Jamaicans speak due to the “unique accent,” as well as the often-experienced misunderstanding due to both pronunciation and word usage, the author of this guide was inspired to produce this work to assist non-natives with the Jamaican dialect. Drawn from a set of daily conversation examples and questions commonly asked by visitors to the Caribbean island, selected vocabulary, phrases, questions, and answers are presented, first in English and then accompanied by the Jamaican equivalent. Dialogues range from dining out, shopping, entertainment, and everyday business and social situations. Finally, a brief but colorful and informative history of Jamaica rounds out the monograph. ... (read more)

Curious People

This collection of stories, with a nod to The Arabian Nights , is set in Egypt and deals with a group of Americans, most of whom are writers or work at a university. There is a story about a displaced costume designer working on a lavish celebration while trying too hard to please everyone. The most grounded person she talks to is an elderly woman who snuck away from her tour group. In another, a professor takes a stand against pollution by having his students dump a ton of contaminated fish on the university's front steps. Some of the stories have touches of magic realism, while others border on the absurd. A common theme is the callousness and cluelessness of the Americans to the plight and humanity of the people sharing their world. ... (read more)

Divine Life

The author’s book takes readers from consciousness to the subconscious and the unconscious, with all the permutations between the levels. It examines topics such as reincarnation, ESP (extra-sensory perception), the soul, meditation, near-death experiences, and the chakras while also looking at some of the experts in the field. Combining research with the author’s own personal experiences, Emmett’s work is written from the perspective of someone who has lived the life of the divine. He describes the work he did with Sai Baba [an Indian guru], particularly at his ashram, and the enlightening experience he goes through and continues to go through with his divine connection. His book reveals much of his teachings. Focusing on the mind-body connection provides an especially important glance into one’s healing, as does the focus on divine love. ... (read more)

Truth Seekers

Jake Logan, an investment banker from New York, has been living in London for the past three years. One night, he meets Alice Francis, a lawyer. Sparks fly, and they soon begin a romantic relationship. Things are going very well, but Alice senses that Jake is hiding something about his past relationship. She eventually finds out that his ex-fiancé, Jessica Brooks, has been stalking him and that Jake stood her up at the altar. Jessica never got over it, and her shadow looms over Jake and Alice's relationship. To make things more complicated, Alice discovers she is pregnant and shares the news with Jake. Though shocked, he proposes to do things right by her, and she accepts. Unfortunately, as the reality of becoming a father hits Jake, he grows more distant from Alice. Jake's attitude will ultimately lead to devastating consequences. ... (read more)

Jealousy & Obession

Jake Logan is devastated when he discovers that his ex-girlfriend, Jessica Brooks, has stabbed his former fiancée, Alice, to death. Meanwhile, Jessica has fled to Paris under a fake name, but Jake eventually discovers that she is mentally ill and has connections to terrorists. Alice's family blames Jake for her death because they read a letter she wrote to him before she died, which revealed Jessica's troubled past. During Alice's funeral, there is an explosion that was meant to kill Jake. With the help of his former Navy SEAL colleagues, Jake investigates Jessica's connections to the terrorists and strives to stop them from carrying out any dangerous plans they have in mind. ... (read more)

Hide From God

Caring & courage.

In this inspiring story of love, faith, and a life well-lived, Fulce shares the powerful testimony of his dearly departed wife, Yolanda (Mendez) Fulce. He tells of love-at-first-sight high school sweethearts whose endearing romance of movies, dances, and drag car races laid the foundation for a marriage that spanned half a century. Fulce’s account of starting a family amid financial challenges highlights the stark contrast between his cynicism and Yolanda’s faith during the early years of their marriage. But Yolanda’s quiet yet persistent prayers for her husband’s salvation were answered. Together, they shared a life of adventure—raising a family, owning a comic book store, meeting famous athletes and celebrities, and traveling. Wherever God planted them, they ministered. Yolanda’s compassion led her to open their home to anyone in need. Her love for children enabled them to build multiple successful youth ministries. ... (read more)

Review Text ... (read more)

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How to Write a Book Review: A Comprehensive Tutorial With Examples

You don’t need to be a literary expert to craft captivating book reviews. With one in every three readers selecting books based on insightful reviews, your opinions can guide fellow bibliophiles toward their next literary adventure.

Learning how to write a book review will not only help you excel at your assigned tasks, but you’ll also contribute valuable insights to the book-loving community and turn your passion into a professional pursuit.

In this comprehensive guide,  PaperPerk  will walk you through a few simple steps to master the art of writing book reviews so you can confidently embark on this rewarding journey.

What is a Book Review?

A book review is a critical evaluation of a book, offering insights into its content, quality, and impact. It helps readers make informed decisions about whether to read the book.

Writing a book review as an assignment benefits students in multiple ways. Firstly, it teaches them how to write a book review by developing their analytical skills as they evaluate the content, themes, and writing style .

Secondly, it enhances their ability to express opinions and provide constructive criticism. Additionally, book review assignments expose students to various publications and genres, broadening their knowledge.

Furthermore, these tasks foster essential skills for academic success, like critical thinking and the ability to synthesize information. By now, we’re sure you want to learn how to write a book review, so let’s look at the book review template first.

Table of Contents

Book Review Template

How to write a book review- a step by step guide.

Check out these 5 straightforward steps for composing the best book review.

Step 1: Planning Your Book Review – The Art of Getting Started

You’ve decided to take the plunge and share your thoughts on a book that has captivated (or perhaps disappointed) you. Before you start book reviewing, let’s take a step back and plan your approach. Since knowing how to write a book review that’s both informative and engaging is an art in itself.

Choosing Your Literature

First things first, pick the book you want to review. This might seem like a no-brainer, but selecting a book that genuinely interests you will make the review process more enjoyable and your insights more authentic.

Crafting the Master Plan

Next, create an  outline  that covers all the essential points you want to discuss in your review. This will serve as the roadmap for your writing journey.

The Devil is in the Details

As you read, note any information that stands out, whether it overwhelms, underwhelms, or simply intrigues you. Pay attention to:

• The characters and their development
• The plot and its intricacies
• Any themes, symbols, or motifs you find noteworthy

Remember to reserve a body paragraph for each point you want to discuss.

The Key Questions to Ponder

When planning your book review, consider the following questions:

• What’s the plot (if any)? Understanding the driving force behind the book will help you craft a more effective review.
• Is the plot interesting? Did the book hold your attention and keep you turning the pages?
• Are the writing techniques effective? Does the author’s style captivate you, making you want to read (or reread) the text?
• Are the characters or the information believable? Do the characters/plot/information feel real, and can you relate to them?
• Would you recommend the book to anyone? Consider if the book is worthy of being recommended, whether to impress someone or to support a point in a literature class.
• What could improve? Always keep an eye out for areas that could be improved. Providing constructive criticism can enhance the quality of literature.

Step 2 – Crafting the Perfect Introduction to Write a Book Review

In this second step of “how to write a book review,” we’re focusing on the art of creating a powerful opening that will hook your audience and set the stage for your analysis.

Identify Your Book and Author

Begin by mentioning the book you’ve chosen, including its  title  and the author’s name. This informs your readers and establishes the subject of your review.

Ponder the Title

Next, discuss the mental images or emotions the book’s title evokes in your mind . This helps your readers understand your initial feelings and expectations before diving into the book.

Judge the Book by Its Cover (Just a Little)

Take a moment to talk about the book’s cover. Did it intrigue you? Did it hint at what to expect from the story or the author’s writing style? Sharing your thoughts on the cover can offer a unique perspective on how the book presents itself to potential readers.

Present Your Thesis

Now it’s time to introduce your thesis. This statement should be a concise and insightful summary of your opinion of the book. For example:

“Normal People” by Sally Rooney is a captivating portrayal of the complexities of human relationships, exploring themes of love, class, and self-discovery with exceptional depth and authenticity.

Ensure that your thesis is relevant to the points or quotes you plan to discuss throughout your review.

Incorporating these elements into your introduction will create a strong foundation for your book review. Your readers will be eager to learn more about your thoughts and insights on the book, setting the stage for a compelling and thought-provoking analysis.

How to Write a Book Review: Step 3 – Building Brilliant Body Paragraphs

You’ve planned your review and written an attention-grabbing introduction. Now it’s time for the main event: crafting the body paragraphs of your book review. In this step of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the art of constructing engaging and insightful body paragraphs that will keep your readers hooked.

Summarize Without Spoilers

Begin by summarizing a specific section of the book, not revealing any major plot twists or spoilers. Your goal is to give your readers a taste of the story without ruining surprises.

Support Your Viewpoint with Quotes

Next, choose three quotes from the book that support your viewpoint or opinion. These quotes should be relevant to the section you’re summarizing and help illustrate your thoughts on the book.

Analyze the Quotes

Write a summary of each quote in your own words, explaining how it made you feel or what it led you to think about the book or the author’s writing. This analysis should provide insight into your perspective and demonstrate your understanding of the text.

Structure Your Body Paragraphs

Dedicate one body paragraph to each quote, ensuring your writing is well-connected, coherent, and easy to understand.

For example:

• In  Jane Eyre , Charlotte Brontë writes, “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me.” This powerful statement highlights Jane’s fierce independence and refusal to be trapped by societal expectations.
• In  Normal People , Sally Rooney explores the complexities of love and friendship when she writes, “It was culture as class performance, literature fetishized for its ability to take educated people on false emotional journeys.” This quote reveals the author’s astute observations on the role of culture and class in shaping personal relationships.
• In  Wuthering Heights , Emily Brontë captures the tumultuous nature of love with the quote, “He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” This poignant line emphasizes the deep, unbreakable bond between the story’s central characters.

By following these guidelines, you’ll create body paragraphs that are both captivating and insightful, enhancing your book review and providing your readers with a deeper understanding of the literary work. 

How to Write a Book Review: Step 4 – Crafting a Captivating Conclusion

You’ve navigated through planning, introductions, and body paragraphs with finesse. Now it’s time to wrap up your book review with a  conclusion that leaves a lasting impression . In this final step of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the art of writing a memorable and persuasive conclusion.

Summarize Your Analysis

Begin by summarizing the key points you’ve presented in the body paragraphs. This helps to remind your readers of the insights and arguments you’ve shared throughout your review.

Offer Your Final Conclusion

Next, provide a conclusion that reflects your overall feelings about the book. This is your chance to leave a lasting impression and persuade your readers to consider your perspective.

Address the Book’s Appeal

Now, answer the question: Is this book worth reading? Be clear about who would enjoy the book and who might not. Discuss the taste preferences and circumstances that make the book more appealing to some readers than others.

For example:  The Alchemist is a book that can enchant a young teen, but those who are already well-versed in classic literature might find it less engaging.

Be Subtle and Balanced

Avoid simply stating whether you “liked” or “disliked” the book. Instead, use nuanced language to convey your message. Highlight the pros and cons of reading the type of literature you’ve reviewed, offering a balanced perspective.

Bringing It All Together

By following these guidelines, you’ll craft a conclusion that leaves your readers with a clear understanding of your thoughts and opinions on the book. Your review will be a valuable resource for those considering whether to pick up the book, and your witty and insightful analysis will make your review a pleasure to read. So conquer the world of book reviews, one captivating conclusion at a time!

How to Write a Book Review: Step 5 – Rating the Book (Optional)

You’ve masterfully crafted your book review, from the introduction to the conclusion. But wait, there’s one more step you might consider before calling it a day: rating the book. In this optional step of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the benefits and methods of assigning a rating to the book you’ve reviewed.

Why Rate the Book?

Sometimes, when writing a professional book review, it may not be appropriate to state whether you liked or disliked the book. In such cases, assigning a rating can be an effective way to get your message across without explicitly sharing your personal opinion.

How to Rate the Book

There are various rating systems you can use to evaluate the book, such as:

• A star rating (e.g., 1 to 5 stars)
• A numerical score (e.g., 1 to 10)
• A letter grade (e.g., A+ to F)

Choose a rating system that best suits your style and the format of your review. Be consistent in your rating criteria, considering writing quality, character development, plot, and overall enjoyment.

Tips for Rating the Book

Here are some tips for rating the book effectively:

• Be honest: Your rating should reflect your true feelings about the book. Don’t inflate or deflate your rating based on external factors, such as the book’s popularity or the author’s reputation.
• Be fair:Consider the book’s merits and shortcomings when rating. Even if you didn’t enjoy the book, recognize its strengths and acknowledge them in your rating.
• Be clear: Explain the rationale behind your rating so your readers understand the factors that influenced your evaluation.

Wrapping Up

By including a rating in your book review, you provide your readers with an additional insight into your thoughts on the book. While this step is optional, it can be a valuable tool for conveying your message subtly yet effectively. So, rate those books confidently, adding a touch of wit and wisdom to your book reviews.

Additional Tips on How to Write a Book Review: A Guide

In this segment, we’ll explore additional tips on how to write a book review. Get ready to captivate your readers and make your review a memorable one!

Hook ’em with an Intriguing Introduction

Keep your introduction precise and to the point. Readers have the attention span of a goldfish these days, so don’t let them swim away in boredom. Start with a bang and keep them hooked!

Embrace the World of Fiction

When learning how to write a book review, remember that reviewing fiction is often more engaging and effective. If your professor hasn’t assigned you a specific book, dive into the realm of fiction and select a novel that piques your interest.

Opinionated with Gusto

Don’t shy away from adding your own opinion to your review. A good book review always features the writer’s viewpoint and constructive criticism. After all, your readers want to know what  you  think!

Express Your Love (or Lack Thereof)

If you adored the book, let your readers know! Use phrases like “I’ll definitely return to this book again” to convey your enthusiasm. Conversely, be honest but respectful even if the book wasn’t your cup of tea.

Templates and Examples and Expert Help: Your Trusty Sidekicks

Feeling lost? You can always get help from formats, book review examples or online  college paper writing service  platforms. These trusty sidekicks will help you navigate the world of book reviews with ease. 

Be a Champion for New Writers and Literature

Remember to uplift new writers and pieces of literature. If you want to suggest improvements, do so kindly and constructively. There’s no need to be mean about anyone’s books – we’re all in this literary adventure together!

Criticize with Clarity, Not Cruelty

When adding criticism to your review, be clear but not mean. Remember, there’s a fine line between constructive criticism and cruelty. Tread lightly and keep your reader’s feelings in mind.

Avoid the Comparison Trap

Resist the urge to compare one writer’s book with another. Every book holds its worth, and comparing them will only confuse your reader. Stick to discussing the book at hand, and let it shine in its own light.

Top 7 Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Writing a book review can be a delightful and rewarding experience, especially when you balance analysis, wit, and personal insights. However, some common mistakes can kill the brilliance of your review. 

In this section of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the top 7 blunders writers commit and how to steer clear of them, with a dash of  modernist literature  examples and tips for students writing book reviews as assignments.

Succumbing to the Lure of Plot Summaries

Mistake: Diving headfirst into a plot summary instead of dissecting the book’s themes, characters, and writing style.

Example: “The Bell Jar chronicles the life of a young woman who experiences a mental breakdown.”

How to Avoid: Delve into the book’s deeper aspects, such as its portrayal of mental health, societal expectations, and the author’s distinctive narrative voice. Offer thoughtful insights and reflections, making your review a treasure trove of analysis.

Unleashing the Spoiler Kraken

Mistake: Spilling major plot twists or the ending without providing a spoiler warning, effectively ruining the reading experience for potential readers.

Example: “In Metamorphosis, the protagonist’s transformation into a monstrous insect leads to…”

How to Avoid: Tread carefully when discussing significant plot developments, and consider using spoiler warnings. Focus on the impact of these plot points on the overall narrative, character growth, or thematic resonance.

Riding the Personal Bias Express

Mistake: Allowing personal bias to hijack the review without providing sufficient evidence or reasoning to support opinions.

Example: “I detest books about existential crises, so The Sun Also Rises was a snoozefest.”

How to Avoid: While personal opinions are valid, it’s crucial to back them up with specific examples from the book. Discuss aspects like writing style, character development, or pacing to support your evaluation and provide a more balanced perspective.

Wielding the Vague Language Saber

Mistake: Resorting to generic, vague language that fails to capture the nuances of the book and can come across as clichéd.

Example: “This book was mind-blowing. It’s a must-read for everyone.”

How to Avoid: Use precise and descriptive language to express your thoughts. Employ specific examples and quotations to highlight memorable scenes, the author’s unique writing style, or the impact of the book’s themes on readers.

Ignoring the Contextualization Compass

Mistake: Neglecting to provide context about the author, genre, or cultural relevance of the book, leaving readers without a proper frame of reference.

Example: “This book is dull and unoriginal.”

How to Avoid: Offer readers a broader understanding by discussing the author’s background, the genre conventions the book adheres to or subverts, and any societal or historical contexts that inform the narrative. This helps readers appreciate the book’s uniqueness and relevance.

Overindulging in Personal Preferences

Mistake: Letting personal preferences overshadow an objective assessment of the book’s merits.

Example: “I don’t like stream-of-consciousness writing, so this book is automatically bad.”

How to Avoid: Acknowledge personal preferences but strive to evaluate the book objectively. Focus on the book’s strengths and weaknesses, considering how well it achieves its goals within its genre or intended audience.

Forgetting the Target Audience Telescope

Mistake: Failing to mention the book’s target audience or who might enjoy it, leading to confusion for potential readers.

Example: “This book is great for everyone.”

How to Avoid: Contemplate the book’s intended audience, genre, and themes. Mention who might particularly enjoy the book based on these factors, whether it’s fans of a specific genre, readers interested in character-driven stories, or those seeking thought-provoking narratives.

By dodging these common pitfalls, writers can craft insightful, balanced, and engaging book reviews that help readers make informed decisions about their reading choices.

These tips are particularly beneficial for students writing book reviews as assignments, as they ensure a well-rounded and thoughtful analysis.!

Many students requested us to cover how to write a book review. This thorough guide is sure to help you. At Paperperk, professionals are dedicated to helping students find their balance. We understand the importance of good grades, so we offer the finest writing service , ensuring students stay ahead of the curve. So seek expert help because only Paperperk is your perfect solution!

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Professional Book Review: The Ultimate Guide

You’re ready to promote your next book. You want people to know about it! But sometimes knowing about it isn’t enough. You have to convince them to buy it too.

To help them decide if they want to buy, most people look for product reviews. This is especially true for books.

To leave reviews, people need to have bought the book…but readers will only buy the book once they see reviews…

How does one break out of this vicious circle?

Meet your new friend: the professional book review.

So, let’s get into what professional book reviews are, where you can get them, and how to use them to promote your book.

We’ll also cover other top tips to get reviews for your book.

What Is a Professional Book Review?

A professional book review is given by a professional (editor or publisher, etc.) who subjectively reviews books and explains their experience while reading it. The aim is to summarize the book’s story or message and critique how it was executed.

Most importantly, they’ll sometimes suggest whether readers should read the book or not. Not all readers will listen to the last part, but it sure leaves an impact.

Different Types of Book Reviews: Professional Vs Customers

You definitely want professional book reviews, but that doesn’t mean customer reviews don’t hold importance too. Customer reviews give your book credibility since it’s reviewed by the general public.

Like it or not, those mixed reviews show readers that you didn’t ask your friends and family to review your book. Let’s face it, only having 5-star reviews is quite suspicious.

So, let’s look into the differences between those 2 types of reviews your book can get.

Professional Review:

• These are from verifiable sources and weigh more in integrity.
• The criticisms can actually help you improve for your next book. The critiques may hurt but there may be some truth to it that you can use to better your writing.
• This route could cost money as quite a few review sites are paid services.
• There won’t be a high volume of these reviews.
• It won’t impact how your book ranks on Amazon (more on this later).

Customer Review:

• It doesn’t carry as much weight as it is not coming from a professional.
• The criticisms can sometimes be confusing and unhelpful to you as an author.
• You can get these reviews for free.
• You can get tons of these reviews.
• It impacts how your book ranks (more reviews mean a higher ranking).

Both types of reviews are necessary for your book. But the professional book review drives in more customer purchases.

Before The Professional Book Review

You want to make sure your book is of the highest quality before you publish it. And you want to be flowing through the promotion of your book, not scrambling about getting stuff ready.

So, let’s make sure you’re ready for the critics and public. Here are some items to tick off before hitting submit:

Polish your content

People close to us may be scared of hurting our feelings if they point out mistakes. We need to correct these but ultimately, we need a professional’s opinion to really catch everything.

Make sure you have editors to help you adjust what is not working in your book and spot any grammar or spelling issues.

How awful would it be to have a critic bash your grammar in a review?

Set up your author pages on sites where your book will be sold, for example, Amazon. This will include adding information about you, your books and where people can find you.

Including your Author website and Facebook links on these pages are vital. If you don’t do it now, then you’ll be doing this admin while you really should be focusing on boosting the positive reviews.

Build anticipation

Make sure your social media platforms are ready for the promotion of your book.

You want to seamlessly integrate the book’s reviews into book trailers , teasers, and other social media posts.

Need some guidance on setting up an epic Facebook page for Authors? We’ve done an extensive post on it. Check it out !

Considerations For a Professional Book Review

There are a few things to consider before sending your book for a professional book review.

This may dissuade you from getting one, but it should help you brace yourself for the process as a whole. It’s best not to have surprises when launching your book, if you can avoid it.

A professional book review is, in most cases, a paid service. You’ll need to factor this into your book promotion budget . This will affect who you will approach and how many reviewers you’ll have.

A professional book review does not mean a positive review. It’ll only be one person’s opinion, but it could still hurt to see your work criticized.

Hoping for the best and expecting an honest review is a good mental stance to take.

Advantages of Professional Book Reviews

A professional book review is so beneficial to your authorship. The benefits provide opportunities for your book promotion and author brand .  

Here’s how you can use a professional book review to your advantage.

Put it on your book cover

Those quoted short statements in italics on the front and back of books look real nice, don’t they?

Well, that’s exactly how you can use your professional book review.

Some reviews can be quite long, but you can just pull out a striking line from the review and place it on your book cover .

The professional book review extraction sums up your book in a one liner. It will add more appeal on top of the beautiful description you’ve already written.

Add it to your author website

A professional book review will make your author website stand out. You can add it to the book’s web page or even better, on the homepage for new readers to discover.

Readers will see the review and it will solidify that your books are worth reading.

Use it on social media

A professional book review will make for an awesome post that you can pin on your Twitter feed or your Facebook Author page.

Upkeeping your social media takes some effort, so having the credibility of a professional book review can help with post ideas and getting new followers.

New followers could mean new readers!

Send it in press releases for book launch

You send out a press release to get people talking about your book. Having a professional book review to attach to that can nudge magazines, journalists, podcasters, and bloggers to write about the upcoming book. This is a great way to strengthen your Book Launch .

Use it to Promote

You want your book to stand out when you’re promoting it. Adding the review to your marketing material like book teasers , for example, makes it easier.

It also goes a long way with booksellers and libraries to see that a professional rated your book. They’ll be more willing to stock your book on their shelves!

Get more reviews

When other professionals see that you have some reputable reviews, they’ll be more willing to do a review themselves. This doesn’t just help with the current book on offer. No, no, no my author friend. This can help you with future books too!

You can use these reviews as a selling point for the next time you’re requesting a professional book review. It’s the gift that will keep on giving!

Include it on Amazon and Goodreads

Reviews will push readers in the right direction: buy the book!

When you include these positive reviews on Amazon and Goodreads it’s like shoving the readers in front of a sign that says, “This book is worth your time. Buy, Buy, Buy!”

And the example above shows that in spades.

Amazon is a huge deal for Authors, so we’ll shine a spotlight on how to use it for reviews later in this blog.

Improve your writing

Everything eventually comes down to self-improvement, doesn’t it?

A positive review will give you confidence. And it says that you know what you’re doing. And since they love it, you’re going to do more of it!

But a negative review can really sting. Thankfully, you can sometimes throw these opinions away. Because some services let you decide whether to use them or not! Phew!

That negative Nelly may just not like your writing style or the storyline. But that is just their opinions. Tons of readers will feel differently.

Approach negative reviews in a constructive way. See what can be learnt and chuck the other parts in the mental bin. No need to dwell on what you can’t change.

Professional Book Review Services

Now, let’s look at who you can ask.

There are a lot of options for you to pick from. So, you’ll need to do extensive research to know that you’re picking the right ones for you.

Here are just a few professional book review services:

This first service is actually free! NetGalley is one of the professional book review services that helps publishers and authors promote the ARCs (Advanced Reader Copy) to professionals. They make the ARCs available to their community so it can be reviewed. This site helps professionals recommend books to their audiences.

Now we are going into the paid professional book review services. BookSirens is similar to NetGalley in that ARCs are distributed. But here, the books have to be approved first before reaching the reviewer pool.

It’s a fair trade since the readers are also vetted to ensure there will be quality reviews. These reviews can be then posted on Amazon and Goodreads.

• Kirkus Reviews

This publisher is a well-known professional book review service. Kirkus Reviews are regarded highly since their reviews are on Amazon especially. This service matches your book to a professional reviewer who is an expert in the topic and genre.

• Artisan Book Reviews

Artisan Book Reviews aim to provide authors’ books with as much exposure as possible with their engaging reviews. They share their reviews and the link to purchase the book to their online connections, eager-to-read newsletter subscribers and social media followers. 

With their extensive online coverage, ABR is great for authors trying to build their reader base as they also provide customized book marketing services.

• US Review of Books

Here’s another one to add to the quality professional book review services list. The US Review of Books also makes use of experienced professionals for their reviews. A key thing to note for Us Book reviews is that they promote their reviews on their monthly newsletter which also serves as extra coverage for your book!

There are tons and tons to pick from besides the professional book review services listed above. And as mentioned, research is dearly needed to pick the service that you’re most comfortable with.

Weirdly enough, you’ll probably have to check out reviews for each of the sites! Another point in favor of reviews 😊.

Top Tip 1#: Remember to read up on the turnover period, costs, and promotion strategies for each of the professional book review services.

Want To Give Your Readers An Engaging Online Experience?

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How To Get Amazon Reviews for Your Book

Amazon is the world’s largest book retailer. Therefore, leaving your stamp on it as an author is important.

So, we thought we’d discuss both professional and customer reviews in this section. We want you to have all the tools needed to promote your book.

Follow community guidelines

Firstly, let’s make sure you’re following the rules.

Amazon checks each review that is posted against their policies and guidelines. So, it could take up to 72 hours to review. Sometimes even longer!

So, make sure that the professional book reviews follow their guidelines .

Here’s the gist of the guidelines:

• Don’t pay someone to leave you a positive review. This could get your account banned. You are allowed to pay professional book services but it’s for honest reviews
• Don’t ask friends and family to leave reviews. Amazon will identify the relationship and remove the review.
• Don’t swap reviews with other authors. Amazon will identify and remove the review.

Know how ranking works

Amazon ranks books based on the number of purchases and reviews the book gets.  So, once you launch your book, you must have everything planned so you keep momentum and get ranking!

If you don’t maintain steady reviews, then your book will drop in ranking or not rank at all.

The more reviews you get the more visibility your book receives.

Verified and Unverified Reviews

There are 2 types of reviews on Amazon: Verified and unverified.

A review is considered Verified when Amazon can see that the review is by someone who has purchased the product from Amazon and didn’t receive a deep discount.

A review is Unverified when Amazon can’t confirm that the product was purchased on Amazon or that the person paid a price available to most Amazon shoppers.

A verified review has more weight compared to an unverified one in a similar way to a professional book review having more weight than a customer review.

So, ask that reviewers purchase the book before leaving their review on Amazon, if possible.

How to get more reviews on Amazon

How you get reviews on Amazon can impact your book’s sales. Here’s some tips on how to get reviews on Amazon:

Target the right audience

See what other books your readers have bought and target the reviewers in the review section of those books.

If made available, you can use their contact details and let them know that your book is similar in topic or genre to a book they’ve reviewed and that they should totally check yours out!

Put together a launch team

Put together a launch team . This team is made up of people who have agreed to read your book before its launch, and they’ll review it after the book has gone live! Your launch team can consist of:

• Keen followers from social media
• Your existing email list contacts
• Experts you’ve liaised with
• Your client base (in the case of nonfiction authors)
• Other authors and writers you’ve built relationships with

Relaunch your book

You can add a chapter, release a new edition, or update the book cover . This essentially relaunches your book on Amazon.

This way you give your book another opportunity to receive reviews and rank!

Editorial reviews on Amazon

An editorial review on Amazon is a critique of a book written by a professional. You should use these professional book reviews on your editorial reviews section for your book.

You can do this by logging into your account on Amazon. Then navigate to your book and go to the Editorial Reviews tab and add your stellar reviews!

Top Tip 2#: When adding the reviews, be sure to credit the professionals that the reviews belong to and refrain from adding any links or promotional text. It should basically look similar to the example above!

Amazon Top Reviewers

Amazon ranks their Top Reviewers. And some of them have their contact details on their profiles.

See which of them have reviewed books in your genre and send them an email.

Note that even though they are reviewers, some of them may not be too keen on reviewing just because you’ve requested politely.

So try and build a relationship with these reviewers first to increase the likelihood of a review and give yourself an author connection for future books.

How To Get Reviews for Your Book

Now that we’ve discussed the professional book reviews, we thought we’d get into how to get the other types of book reviews that can help you promote your book.

Ask book bloggers

You can ask book bloggers ! See what interests each blogger and approach the ones that will understand your book’s topics and genre.

You can also use blog tours to build relationships with book bloggers, making it easy to ask them for a book review.

Use your email list

You can use the email list you have for your newsletter to ask readers to review your book. These people are already engaged with you and your world, all they need now is a reminder to keep supporting you!

You can even provide an ARC for them to read and then review when the book is published. Just be sure to ask who is interested and mention the purpose of you sharing the ARC.

Send a follow up email on the publication date for them to review and you’re good to go!

From your readers

At the end of your book, you can ask the readers to share their honest opinions of the book. Have some links to Amazon, Goodreads and wherever else they can post reviews. 

You have to convey that the reviews are important to you! You as an author need to show the readers that you’re human too!

Let them know that you’re eager to read their reviews. This will have them more likely to review. People would love to be noticed by the author that wrote the book they have read.

Also, don’t feel shy to use social media to request people to post a review. You can express your appreciation for the support given so far and ask that people share their review of the book on Amazon or Goodreads.

Ask other authors

You can build relationships with authors by joining Facebook or Goodreads groups and other web forums. Ask these author friends to review your book!

And note that this will not be in exchange for a review of their book. This is just authors supporting authors!

From the experts

This may take some effort but can be super cool if you can get it done. Find experts in your book’s themes, topics, and genre to review your book. For example, if you wrote a fiction book in the medical field, you could ask a medical professional!

If you already have an idea of who might be interested, then pop them a respectful email!

Emailing Tips For Book Reviews

You should have a list put together of who’d you’d like to email. But what should be in the emails? Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Provide the ARC in the email to make it easy for them to get started with reading your book
• Send a cover letter with your submission 
• Mention the deadline but don’t be pushy. They are doing you a favor at the end of the day.
• Share a direct link to the amazon review page to make it easy for them to review
• After initial contact, don’t follow up too soon . They don’t owe you the review so give them sufficient time to think it over.
• Sell your book in a way that will entice them to read it (compare it to something they’ve already reviewed, for example)
• Let them know where their review could be displayed . For example, the front cover of the book , Amazon’s Editorial Reviews section, etc.
• Don’t mention the type of review they should give…other than an honest one !
• Be friendly and respectful .
• Remember to express gratitude . Be thankful for any assistance they provide!

Top Tip 3#: Add useful participants to a spreadsheet for your next book launch! Keeping these contact details is a time saver and helps with planning for the next book promotion. Your spreadsheet should have: Name, email address, social media handles, books reviewed (yours and others), interests, date the emails were sent and any other helpful notes.

The Verdict

Book reviews are so important for your book’s promotion. Putting effort into getting the reviews rolling will really help with the book’s success.

And with the tips and suggestions we’ve shared, we’re sure you will be rocking those professional book reviews soon! They won’t just help with your book; they’ll help with your author brand too.

If you’re looking to take your author brand to the next level, then consider getting yourself an author website. If you already have one, then we can elevate it! We’d be happy to assist you with our website design services .

We pride ourselves in matching an author’s website to their brand. Need proof? We have some reviews of our own!

“…dedicated group with technical brilliance and artistic flair.” – James Maxwell Million Book Selling Fantasy Author.

“Their expertise shows in both the quality of the website design and the details of the interactivity users experience.” – Melissa McPhail Best Selling Fantasy Author.

“To say they did a good job, is the understatement of the century.” – Daniel Gibbs Military Science Fiction Author.

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Book Reviews

What this handout is about.

This handout will help you write a book review, a report or essay that offers a critical perspective on a text. It offers a process and suggests some strategies for writing book reviews.

What is a review?

A review is a critical evaluation of a text, event, object, or phenomenon. Reviews can consider books, articles, entire genres or fields of literature, architecture, art, fashion, restaurants, policies, exhibitions, performances, and many other forms. This handout will focus on book reviews. For a similar assignment, see our handout on literature reviews .

Above all, a review makes an argument. The most important element of a review is that it is a commentary, not merely a summary. It allows you to enter into dialogue and discussion with the work’s creator and with other audiences. You can offer agreement or disagreement and identify where you find the work exemplary or deficient in its knowledge, judgments, or organization. You should clearly state your opinion of the work in question, and that statement will probably resemble other types of academic writing, with a thesis statement, supporting body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Typically, reviews are brief. In newspapers and academic journals, they rarely exceed 1000 words, although you may encounter lengthier assignments and extended commentaries. In either case, reviews need to be succinct. While they vary in tone, subject, and style, they share some common features:

• First, a review gives the reader a concise summary of the content. This includes a relevant description of the topic as well as its overall perspective, argument, or purpose.
• Second, and more importantly, a review offers a critical assessment of the content. This involves your reactions to the work under review: what strikes you as noteworthy, whether or not it was effective or persuasive, and how it enhanced your understanding of the issues at hand.
• Finally, in addition to analyzing the work, a review often suggests whether or not the audience would appreciate it.

Becoming an expert reviewer: three short examples

Reviewing can be a daunting task. Someone has asked for your opinion about something that you may feel unqualified to evaluate. Who are you to criticize Toni Morrison’s new book if you’ve never written a novel yourself, much less won a Nobel Prize? The point is that someone—a professor, a journal editor, peers in a study group—wants to know what you think about a particular work. You may not be (or feel like) an expert, but you need to pretend to be one for your particular audience. Nobody expects you to be the intellectual equal of the work’s creator, but your careful observations can provide you with the raw material to make reasoned judgments. Tactfully voicing agreement and disagreement, praise and criticism, is a valuable, challenging skill, and like many forms of writing, reviews require you to provide concrete evidence for your assertions.

Consider the following brief book review written for a history course on medieval Europe by a student who is fascinated with beer:

Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600, investigates how women used to brew and sell the majority of ale drunk in England. Historically, ale and beer (not milk, wine, or water) were important elements of the English diet. Ale brewing was low-skill and low status labor that was complimentary to women’s domestic responsibilities. In the early fifteenth century, brewers began to make ale with hops, and they called this new drink “beer.” This technique allowed brewers to produce their beverages at a lower cost and to sell it more easily, although women generally stopped brewing once the business became more profitable.

The student describes the subject of the book and provides an accurate summary of its contents. But the reader does not learn some key information expected from a review: the author’s argument, the student’s appraisal of the book and its argument, and whether or not the student would recommend the book. As a critical assessment, a book review should focus on opinions, not facts and details. Summary should be kept to a minimum, and specific details should serve to illustrate arguments.

Now consider a review of the same book written by a slightly more opinionated student:

Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 was a colossal disappointment. I wanted to know about the rituals surrounding drinking in medieval England: the songs, the games, the parties. Bennett provided none of that information. I liked how the book showed ale and beer brewing as an economic activity, but the reader gets lost in the details of prices and wages. I was more interested in the private lives of the women brewsters. The book was divided into eight long chapters, and I can’t imagine why anyone would ever want to read it.

There’s no shortage of judgments in this review! But the student does not display a working knowledge of the book’s argument. The reader has a sense of what the student expected of the book, but no sense of what the author herself set out to prove. Although the student gives several reasons for the negative review, those examples do not clearly relate to each other as part of an overall evaluation—in other words, in support of a specific thesis. This review is indeed an assessment, but not a critical one.

Here is one final review of the same book:

One of feminism’s paradoxes—one that challenges many of its optimistic histories—is how patriarchy remains persistent over time. While Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 recognizes medieval women as historical actors through their ale brewing, it also shows that female agency had its limits with the advent of beer. I had assumed that those limits were religious and political, but Bennett shows how a “patriarchal equilibrium” shut women out of economic life as well. Her analysis of women’s wages in ale and beer production proves that a change in women’s work does not equate to a change in working women’s status. Contemporary feminists and historians alike should read Bennett’s book and think twice when they crack open their next brewsky.

This student’s review avoids the problems of the previous two examples. It combines balanced opinion and concrete example, a critical assessment based on an explicitly stated rationale, and a recommendation to a potential audience. The reader gets a sense of what the book’s author intended to demonstrate. Moreover, the student refers to an argument about feminist history in general that places the book in a specific genre and that reaches out to a general audience. The example of analyzing wages illustrates an argument, the analysis engages significant intellectual debates, and the reasons for the overall positive review are plainly visible. The review offers criteria, opinions, and support with which the reader can agree or disagree.

Developing an assessment: before you write

There is no definitive method to writing a review, although some critical thinking about the work at hand is necessary before you actually begin writing. Thus, writing a review is a two-step process: developing an argument about the work under consideration, and making that argument as you write an organized and well-supported draft. See our handout on argument .

What follows is a series of questions to focus your thinking as you dig into the work at hand. While the questions specifically consider book reviews, you can easily transpose them to an analysis of performances, exhibitions, and other review subjects. Don’t feel obligated to address each of the questions; some will be more relevant than others to the book in question.

• What is the thesis—or main argument—of the book? If the author wanted you to get one idea from the book, what would it be? How does it compare or contrast to the world you know? What has the book accomplished?
• What exactly is the subject or topic of the book? Does the author cover the subject adequately? Does the author cover all aspects of the subject in a balanced fashion? What is the approach to the subject (topical, analytical, chronological, descriptive)?
• How does the author support their argument? What evidence do they use to prove their point? Do you find that evidence convincing? Why or why not? Does any of the author’s information (or conclusions) conflict with other books you’ve read, courses you’ve taken or just previous assumptions you had of the subject?
• How does the author structure their argument? What are the parts that make up the whole? Does the argument make sense? Does it persuade you? Why or why not?
• How has this book helped you understand the subject? Would you recommend the book to your reader?

Beyond the internal workings of the book, you may also consider some information about the author and the circumstances of the text’s production:

• Who is the author? Nationality, political persuasion, training, intellectual interests, personal history, and historical context may provide crucial details about how a work takes shape. Does it matter, for example, that the biographer was the subject’s best friend? What difference would it make if the author participated in the events they write about?
• What is the book’s genre? Out of what field does it emerge? Does it conform to or depart from the conventions of its genre? These questions can provide a historical or literary standard on which to base your evaluations. If you are reviewing the first book ever written on the subject, it will be important for your readers to know. Keep in mind, though, that naming “firsts”—alongside naming “bests” and “onlys”—can be a risky business unless you’re absolutely certain.

Writing the review

Once you have made your observations and assessments of the work under review, carefully survey your notes and attempt to unify your impressions into a statement that will describe the purpose or thesis of your review. Check out our handout on thesis statements . Then, outline the arguments that support your thesis.

Your arguments should develop the thesis in a logical manner. That logic, unlike more standard academic writing, may initially emphasize the author’s argument while you develop your own in the course of the review. The relative emphasis depends on the nature of the review: if readers may be more interested in the work itself, you may want to make the work and the author more prominent; if you want the review to be about your perspective and opinions, then you may structure the review to privilege your observations over (but never separate from) those of the work under review. What follows is just one of many ways to organize a review.

Introduction

Since most reviews are brief, many writers begin with a catchy quip or anecdote that succinctly delivers their argument. But you can introduce your review differently depending on the argument and audience. The Writing Center’s handout on introductions can help you find an approach that works. In general, you should include:

• The name of the author and the book title and the main theme.
• Relevant details about who the author is and where they stand in the genre or field of inquiry. You could also link the title to the subject to show how the title explains the subject matter.
• The context of the book and/or your review. Placing your review in a framework that makes sense to your audience alerts readers to your “take” on the book. Perhaps you want to situate a book about the Cuban revolution in the context of Cold War rivalries between the United States and the Soviet Union. Another reviewer might want to consider the book in the framework of Latin American social movements. Your choice of context informs your argument.
• The thesis of the book. If you are reviewing fiction, this may be difficult since novels, plays, and short stories rarely have explicit arguments. But identifying the book’s particular novelty, angle, or originality allows you to show what specific contribution the piece is trying to make.
• Your thesis about the book.

Summary of content

This should be brief, as analysis takes priority. In the course of making your assessment, you’ll hopefully be backing up your assertions with concrete evidence from the book, so some summary will be dispersed throughout other parts of the review.

The necessary amount of summary also depends on your audience. Graduate students, beware! If you are writing book reviews for colleagues—to prepare for comprehensive exams, for example—you may want to devote more attention to summarizing the book’s contents. If, on the other hand, your audience has already read the book—such as a class assignment on the same work—you may have more liberty to explore more subtle points and to emphasize your own argument. See our handout on summary for more tips.

Analysis and evaluation of the book

Your analysis and evaluation should be organized into paragraphs that deal with single aspects of your argument. This arrangement can be challenging when your purpose is to consider the book as a whole, but it can help you differentiate elements of your criticism and pair assertions with evidence more clearly. You do not necessarily need to work chronologically through the book as you discuss it. Given the argument you want to make, you can organize your paragraphs more usefully by themes, methods, or other elements of the book. If you find it useful to include comparisons to other books, keep them brief so that the book under review remains in the spotlight. Avoid excessive quotation and give a specific page reference in parentheses when you do quote. Remember that you can state many of the author’s points in your own words.

Sum up or restate your thesis or make the final judgment regarding the book. You should not introduce new evidence for your argument in the conclusion. You can, however, introduce new ideas that go beyond the book if they extend the logic of your own thesis. This paragraph needs to balance the book’s strengths and weaknesses in order to unify your evaluation. Did the body of your review have three negative paragraphs and one favorable one? What do they all add up to? The Writing Center’s handout on conclusions can help you make a final assessment.

Finally, a few general considerations:

• Review the book in front of you, not the book you wish the author had written. You can and should point out shortcomings or failures, but don’t criticize the book for not being something it was never intended to be.
• With any luck, the author of the book worked hard to find the right words to express her ideas. You should attempt to do the same. Precise language allows you to control the tone of your review.
• Never hesitate to challenge an assumption, approach, or argument. Be sure, however, to cite specific examples to back up your assertions carefully.
• Try to present a balanced argument about the value of the book for its audience. You’re entitled—and sometimes obligated—to voice strong agreement or disagreement. But keep in mind that a bad book takes as long to write as a good one, and every author deserves fair treatment. Harsh judgments are difficult to prove and can give readers the sense that you were unfair in your assessment.
• A great place to learn about book reviews is to look at examples. The New York Times Sunday Book Review and The New York Review of Books can show you how professional writers review books.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Drewry, John. 1974. Writing Book Reviews. Boston: Greenwood Press.

Hoge, James. 1987. Literary Reviewing. Charlottesville: University Virginia of Press.

Sova, Dawn, and Harry Teitelbaum. 2002. How to Write Book Reports , 4th ed. Lawrenceville, NY: Thomson/Arco.

Walford, A.J. 1986. Reviews and Reviewing: A Guide. Phoenix: Oryx Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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How to Write a Book Review: Awesome Guide

A book review allows students to illustrate the author's intentions of writing the piece, as well as create a criticism of the book — as a whole. In other words, form an opinion of the author's presented ideas. Check out this guide from EssayPro - book review writing service to learn how to write a book review successfully.

What Is a Book Review?

You may prosper, “what is a book review?”. Book reviews are commonly assigned students to allow them to show a clear understanding of the novel. And to check if the students have actually read the book. The essay format is highly important for your consideration, take a look at the book review format below.

Book reviews are assigned to allow students to present their own opinion regarding the author’s ideas included in the book or passage. They are a form of literary criticism that analyzes the author’s ideas, writing techniques, and quality. A book analysis is entirely opinion-based, in relevance to the book. They are good practice for those who wish to become editors, due to the fact, editing requires a lot of criticism.

Book Review Template

The book review format includes an introduction, body, and conclusion.

• Introduction
• Describe the book cover and title.
• Include any subtitles at this stage.
• Include the Author’s Name.
• Write a brief description of the novel.
• Briefly introduce the main points of the body in your book review.
• Avoid mentioning any opinions at this time.
• Use about 3 quotations from the author’s novel.
• Summarize the quotations in your own words.
• Mention your own point-of-view of the quotation.
• Remember to keep every point included in its own paragraph.
• In brief, summarize the quotations.
• In brief, summarize the explanations.
• Finish with a concluding sentence.
• This can include your final opinion of the book.
• Star-Rating (Optional).

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How to Write a Book Review: Step-By-Step

Writing a book review is something that can be done with every novel. Book reviews can apply to all novels, no matter the genre. Some genres may be harder than others. On the other hand, the book review format remains the same. Take a look at these step-by-step instructions from our professional writers to learn how to write a book review in-depth.

Step 1: Planning

Create an essay outline which includes all of the main points you wish to summarise in your book analysis. Include information about the characters, details of the plot, and some other important parts of your chosen novel. Reserve a body paragraph for each point you wish to talk about.

Consider these points before writing:

• What is the plot of the book? Understanding the plot enables you to write an effective review.
• Is the plot gripping? Does the plot make you want to continue reading the novel? Did you enjoy the plot? Does it manage to grab a reader’s attention?
• Are the writing techniques used by the author effective? Does the writer imply factors in-between the lines? What are they?
• Are the characters believable? Are the characters logical? Does the book make the characters are real while reading?
• Would you recommend the book to anyone? The most important thing: would you tell others to read this book? Is it good enough? Is it bad?
• What could be better? Keep in mind the quotes that could have been presented better. Criticize the writer.

Step 2: Introduction

Presumably, you have chosen your book. To begin, mention the book title and author’s name. Talk about the cover of the book. Write a thesis statement regarding the fictitious story or non-fictional novel. Which briefly describes the quoted material in the book review.

Step 3: Body

Choose a specific chapter or scenario to summarise. Include about 3 quotes in the body. Create summaries of each quote in your own words. It is also encouraged to include your own point-of-view and the way you interpret the quote. It is highly important to have one quote per paragraph.

Step 4: Conclusion

Write a summary of the summarised quotations and explanations, included in the body paragraphs. After doing so, finish book analysis with a concluding sentence to show the bigger picture of the book. Think to yourself, “Is it worth reading?”, and answer the question in black and white. However, write in-between the lines. Avoid stating “I like/dislike this book.”

Step 5: Rate the Book (Optional)

After writing a book review, you may want to include a rating. Including a star-rating provides further insight into the quality of the book, to your readers. Book reviews with star-ratings can be more effective, compared to those which don’t. Though, this is entirely optional.

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Writing Tips

Here is the list of tips for the book review:

• A long introduction can certainly lower one’s grade: keep the beginning short. Readers don’t like to read the long introduction for any essay style.
• It is advisable to write book reviews about fiction: it is not a must. Though, reviewing fiction can be far more effective than writing about a piece of nonfiction
• Avoid Comparing: avoid comparing your chosen novel with other books you have previously read. Doing so can be confusing for the reader.
• Opinion Matters: including your own point-of-view is something that is often encouraged when writing book reviews.
• Refer to Templates: a book review template can help a student get a clearer understanding of the required writing style.
• Don’t be Afraid to Criticize: usually, your own opinion isn’t required for academic papers below Ph.D. level. On the other hand, for book reviews, there’s an exception.
• Use Positivity: include a fair amount of positive comments and criticism.
• Review The Chosen Novel: avoid making things up. Review only what is presented in the chosen book.
• Enjoyed the book? If you loved reading the book, state it. Doing so makes your book analysis more personalized.

Writing a book review is something worth thinking about. Professors commonly assign this form of an assignment to students to enable them to express a grasp of a novel. Following the book review format is highly useful for beginners, as well as reading step-by-step instructions. Writing tips is also useful for people who are new to this essay type. If you need a book review or essay, ask our book report writing services ' write paper for me ' and we'll give you a hand asap!

We also recommend that everyone read the article about essay topics . It will help broaden your horizons in writing a book review as well as other papers.

Book Review Examples

Referring to a book review example is highly useful to those who wish to get a clearer understanding of how to review a book. Take a look at our examples written by our professional writers. Click on the button to open the book review examples and feel free to use them as a reference.

Book review

Kenneth Grahame’s ‘The Wind in the Willows’

Kenneth Grahame’s ‘The Wind in the Willows’ is a novel aimed at youngsters. The plot, itself, is not American humor, but that of Great Britain. In terms of sarcasm, and British-related jokes. The novel illustrates a fair mix of the relationships between the human-like animals, and wildlife. The narrative acts as an important milestone in post-Victorian children’s literature.

Book Review

Dr. John’s ‘Pollution’

Dr. John’s ‘Pollution’ consists of 3 major parts. The first part is all about the polluted ocean. The second being about the pollution of the sky. The third part is an in-depth study of how humans can resolve these issues. The book is a piece of non-fiction that focuses on modern-day pollution ordeals faced by both animals and humans on Planet Earth. It also focuses on climate change, being the result of the global pollution ordeal.

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How To Write A Book Review?

What to include in a book review, what is a book review, related articles.

25+ Book Review Templates and Ideas to Organize Your Thoughts

Danika Ellis

Danika spends most of her time talking about queer women books at the Lesbrary. Blog: The Lesbrary Twitter: @DanikaEllis

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When I was a kid I loved reading, but I hated book reports. It felt impossible to boil a book down to a few lines or even a page of writing. Besides, by the time I had to write the report, I had already forgotten a lot. It never ceases to be painful to try to pull my thoughts and opinions out of my head and put them on the page, especially in a coherent way.

As an adult, I continue to usually find writing book reviews painful . And yet, I maintain a book blog with reviews of all the (bi and lesbian) books I read. Why? For one thing, I want to raise the visibility of these books — or, in the case of a book I loathed, warn other readers of what to expect. It helps me to build community with other book lovers. It’s also a great way to force myself pay attention to how I’m feeling while I’m reading a book and what my thoughts are afterwards. I have learned to take notes as I go, so I have something to refer to by the time I write a review, and it has me notice what a book is doing well (and what it isn’t). The review at the end helps me to organize my thoughts. I also find that I remember more once I’ve written a review.

Once you’ve decided it’s worthwhile to write a review, though, how do you get started? It can be a daunting task. The good news is, book reviews can adapt to whatever you want them to be. A book review can be a tweet with a thumbs up or thumbs down emoji, maybe with a sentence or two of your thoughts; it can also be an in-depth essay on the themes of the book and its influence on literature. Most are going to fall somewhere between those two! Let go of the idea of trying to create the One True Book Review. Everyone is looking for something different, and there is space for GIF-filled squee fests about a book and thoughtful, meditative explorations of a work.

This post offers a variety of book reviews elements that you can mix and match to create a book review template that works for you. Before you get started, though, there are some questions worth addressing.

Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Book Review Template

Where will you be posting your book reviews.

An Instagram book review will likely look different from a blog book review. Consider which platform you will be using for your book review. You can adapt it for different platforms, or link to your original review, but it’s a good starting point. Instagram reviews tend to be a lot shorter than blog reviews, for instance.

Will you be using the same template every time?

Some book reviewers have a go-to book review template. Others have a different one for each genre, while another group doesn’t use a template at all and just reacts to whatever each book brings up.

Heading or no headings?

When choosing which book review elements to mix and match, you can also decide whether to include a header for each section (like Plot, Characterization, Writing, etc). Headers make reviews easier to browse, but they may not have the professional, essay-style look that you’re going for.

Why are you writing a review?

When selecting which elements to include in your review, consider what the purpose is. Do you want to better remember the plot by writing about it? You probably want to include a plot summary, then. Do you want to help readers decide whether they should read this book? A pros and cons list might be helpful. Are you trying to track something about your reading, like an attempt to read more books in translation or more books by authors of color? Are you trying to buy fewer books and read off your TBR shelf instead? These are all things you can note in a review, usually in a point-form basic information block at the beginning.

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Book Review Templates and Formats

Essay-style.

This is a multi-paragraph review, usually with no headers. It’s the same format most newspapers and academics use for book reviews. Many essay-style reviews use informal categories in their writing, often discussing setting, writing, characters, and plot in their own paragraphs. They usually also discuss the big themes/messages of a story. Here are some questions to consider when writing an essay-style review:

What is the author trying to do? Don’t evaluate a romance novel based on a mystery novel’s criteria. First try to think about what the book was attempting to do, then try to evaluate if they achieved it. You can still note if you didn’t like it, but it’s good to know what it was aiming for first.

What are some of the themes of the story? What big message should the reader take away? Did you agree with what the book seemed to be saying? Why or why not?

How is this story relevant to the world? What is it saying about the time it was written in? About human nature? About society or current issues? Depending on the book, there may be more or less to dig into here.

What did this book make you think about? It may be that the themes in the book were just a launching off point. How did they inspire your own thinking? How did this book change you?

A Classic Book Review

This is probably the most common kind of book review template. It uses a few criteria, usually including Setting, Writing, Characters, and Plot (for a novel). The review then goes into some detail about each element, describing what the book did well, and where it fell short.

The advantage of this format is that it’s very straightforward and applies to almost any fiction read. It can also be adapted–you will likely have more to say about the plot in a mystery/thriller than a character study of a novel. A drawback, though, is that it can feel limiting. You might have thoughts that don’t neatly fit into these categories, or you could feel like you don’t have enough to say about some of the categories.

Pros and Cons

A common format for a Goodreads review is some variation of pros and cons. This might be “What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like” or “Reasons to Bump This Up Your TBR/Reasons to Bump This Down On Your TBR.” This is a very flexible system that can accommodate anything from a few bullet points each to paragraphs each. It gives a good at-a-glance impression of your thoughts (more cons than pros is a pretty good indication you didn’t like it). It also is broad enough that almost all your thoughts can likely be organized into those headings.

This is also a format that is easily mix and matched with the elements listed below. A brief review might give the title, author, genre, some brief selling points of the novel, and then a pros and cons list. Some reviews also include a “verdict” at the end. An example of this format:

The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill

🌟 Fantasy All-Ages Comic 💫 Adorable pet dragons ✨ A diverse cast

Pros: This book has beautiful artwork. It is a soothing read, and all the character are supportive of each other. This is a story about friendship and kindness.

Cons: Don’t expect a fast-moving plot or a lot of conflict. This is a very gentle read.

Another approach to the review is not, strictly speaking, a book review template at all. Instead, it’s something like “5 Reasons to Read TITLE by Author” or “The # Most Shocking Plot Twists in X Series.” An advantage of this format is that it can be very to-the-point: if you want to convince people to read a book, it makes sense to just write a list of reasons they should read the book. It may also be more likely to get clicked on–traditional book reviews often get less views than more general posts.

On the other hand, listicles can come off as gimmicky or click-bait. You’ll have to decide for yourself if the book matches this format, and whether you are writing this out of genuine enthusiasm or are just trying to bend a review to be more clickable.

Your Own Original Rating System

Lots of reviewers decide to make their own review format based on what matters to them. This is often accompanied by a ratings system. For instance, the BookTube channel Book Roast uses the CAWPILE system:

CAWPILE is an acronym for the criteria she rates: Characters, Atmosphere, Writing, Plot, Intrigue, Logic, Enjoyment. Each of those are rated 1–10, and the average given is the overall rating. By making your own ratings/review system, you can prioritize what matters to you.

My favorite rating system is Njeri’s from Onyx Pages , because it shows exactly what she’s looking for from books, and it helps her to think about and speak about the things she values:

A “Live Tweet” or Chronological Review

Another format possibility is live tweeting (or updating as you go on Goodreads, or whatever your platform of choice is). This has you document your initial thoughts as you read, and it’s usually informal and often silly. You can add what you’re loving, what you’re hating, and what questions you have as you go.

This is a fun format for when you’re reading a popular book for the first time. That way, other people can cackle at how unprepared you are as you read it. This requires you to remember to always have your phone on you as you read, to get your authentic thoughts as they happen, but it saves on having to write a more in-depth review. Alternately, some people include both a “first impressions” section and a more in-depth analysis section in their final review.

Get Creative

There are plenty of book review templates to choose from and elements to mix-and-match, but you can also respond in a completely original way. You could create a work of art in response to the book! Here are some options:

• Writing a song , a short story, or a poem
• Writing a letter to the author or the main character (you don’t have to send it to the author!)
• Writing an “interview” of a character from the book, talk show style
• Making a visual response, like a collage or painting
• Making a book diorama, like your elementary school days!

Mix-and-Match Elements of a Book Review

Most book reviews are made up of a few different parts, which can be combined in lots of different ways. Here is a selection to choose from! These might also give you ideas for your own elements. Don’t take on too much, though! It can easily become an overwhelming amount of information for readers.

Information

Usually a book review starts with some basic information about the book. What you consider basic information, though, is up for interpretation! Consider what you and your audience will think is important. Here are some ideas:

• The title and author (pretty important)
• The book’s cover
• Format (audiobook, comic, poetry, etc)
• Genre (this can be broad, like SFF, or narrow, like Silkpunk or Dark Academia)
• Content warnings
• Source (where did you get the book? Was is borrowed from the library, bought, or were you sent an ARC?)
• Synopsis/plot summary (your own or the publisher’s)
• What kind of representation there is in the novel (including race, disability, LGBTQ characters, etc)
• Anything you’re tracking in your reading, including: authors of color, authors’ country, if a book is in translation, etc

Review Elements

Once you’ve established your basic information, you’re into the review itself! Some of these are small additions to a review, while others are a little more time-intensive.

Bullet point elements:

• Rating (star rating, thumbs up/down, recommend/wouldn’t recommend, or your own scale)
• Who would like it/Who wouldn’t like it
• Read-alikes (or movies and TV shows like the book)
• Describe the book using an emoji or emojis
• Describe the book using a gif or gifs
• Favorite line(s) from the book
• New vocabulary/the most beautiful words in the novel
• How it made you feel (in a sentence or two)
• One word or one sentence review
• Bullet points listing the selling points of a book
• BooksandLala’s Scary, Unsettling, and Intrigue ratings, for horror
• World-building, for fantasy and science fiction titles
• Art, for comics
• Narration, for audiobooks
• Romance, for…romance
• Heat level, for erotica

Visual elements:

• Design a graphic (usually incorporating the cover, your star rating, and some other basic info)
• Take a selfie of yourself holding the book, with your expression as the review
• Make a mood board
• Design your own book cover
• Make fan art

Elements to incorporate into a review:

• Quick/initial thoughts (often while reading or immediately after reading), then a more in-depth review (common on Goodreads)
• A list of facts about the book or a character from the book
• Book club questions about the book
• Spoiler/non-spoiler sections
• Research: look up interviews with the author and critique of the book, incorporate it (cited!) into your review
• Links to other resources, such as interviews or other reviews — especially #OwnVoices reviews
• A story of your own, whether it’s your experience reading the book, or something it reminded you of

This is not a complete list! There are so many ways to write a book review, and it should reflect your own relationship with books, as well as your audience. If you’re looking for more ways to keep track of your reading, you’ll also like 50+ Beautiful Bujo Spread Ideas to Track Your Reading .

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Writing a Book Review

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Book reviews typically evaluate recently-written works. They offer a brief description of the text’s key points and often provide a short appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of the work.

Readers sometimes confuse book reviews with book reports, but the two are not identical. Book reports commonly describe what happens in a work; their focus is primarily on giving an account of the major plot, characters, and/or main idea of the work. Most often, book reports are a K-12 assignment and range from 250 to 500 words. If you are looking to write a book report, please see the OWL resource, Writing a Book Report.

By contrast, book reviews are most often a college assignment, but they also appear in many professional works: magazines, newspapers, and academic journals. They typically range from 500-750 words, but may be longer or shorter. A book review gives readers a sneak peek at what a book is like, whether or not the reviewer enjoyed it, and details on purchasing the book.

Before You Read

Before you begin to read, consider the elements you will need to included in your review. The following items may help:

• Author: Who is the author? What else has s/he written? Has this author won any awards? What is the author’s typical style?
• Genre: What type of book is this: fiction, nonfiction, romance, poetry, youth fiction, etc.? Who is the intended audience for this work? What is the purpose of the work?
• Title: Where does the title fit in? How is it applied in the work? Does it adequately encapsulate the message of the text? Is it interesting? Uninteresting?
• Preface/Introduction/Table of Contents: Does the author provide any revealing information about the text in the preface/introduction? Does a “guest author” provide the introduction? What judgments or preconceptions do the author and/or “guest author” provide? How is the book arranged: sections, chapters?
• Book Jacket/Cover/Printing: Book jackets are like mini-reviews. Does the book jacket provide any interesting details or spark your interest in some way? Are there pictures, maps, or graphs? Do the binding, page cut, or typescript contribute or take away from the work?

As You Read

As you read, determine how you will structure the summary portion or background structure of your review. Be ready to take notes on the book’s key points, characters, and/or themes.

• Characters: Are there characters in the work? Who are the principal characters? How do they affect the story? Do you empathize with them?
• Themes/Motifs/Style: What themes or motifs stand out? How do they contribute to the work? Are they effective or not? How would you describe this author’s particular style? Is it accessible to all readers or just some?
• Argument: How is the work’s argument set up? What support does the author give for her/findings? Does the work fulfill its purpose/support its argument?
• Key Ideas: What is the main idea of the work? What makes it good, different, or groundbreaking?
• Quotes: What quotes stand out? How can you demonstrate the author’s talent or the feel of the book through a quote?

When You Are Ready to Write

Begin with a short summary or background of the work, but do not give too much away. Many reviews limit themselves only to the first couple of chapters or lead the reader up to the rising action of the work. Reviewers of nonfiction texts will provide the basic idea of the book’s argument without too much detailed.

The final portion of your review will detail your opinion of the work. When you are ready to begin your review, consider the following:

• Establish a Background, Remember your Audience: Remember that your audience has not read the work; with this in mind, be sure to introduce characters and principles carefully and deliberately. What kind of summary can you provide of the main points or main characters that will help your readers gauge their interest? Does the author’s text adequately reach the intended audience? Will some readers be lost or find the text too easy?
• Minor principles/characters: Deal only with the most pressing issues in the book. You will not be able to cover every character or idea. What principles/characters did you agree or disagree with? What other things might the author have researched or considered?
• Organize: The purpose of the review is to critically evaluate the text, not just inform the readers about it. Leave plenty room for your evaluation by ensuring that your summary is brief. Determine what kind of balance to strike between your summary information and your evaluation. If you are writing your review for a class, ask your instructor. Often the ratio is half and half.
• Your Evaluation: Choose one or a few points to discuss about the book. What worked well for you? How does this work compare with others by the same author or other books in the same genre? What major themes, motifs, or terms does the book introduce, and how effective are they? Did the book appeal to you on an emotional or logical way?
• Publisher/Price: Most book reviews include the publisher and price of the book at the end of the article. Some reviews also include the year published and ISBN.

When making the final touches to your review, carefully verify the following:

• Double-check the spelling of the author name(s), character names, special terms, and publisher.
• Try to read from the vantage point of your audience. Is there too much/enough summary? Does your argument about the text make sense?
• Should you include direct quotes from the reading? Do they help support your arguments? Double-check your quotes for accuracy.

The 13 Best Book Review Sites and Book Rating Sites

Knowing where to buy books can be challenging. So, here are the best book review sites to help you avoid buying books that you'll regret reading.

Nobody likes to spend money on a new book only to face that overwhelming feeling of disappointment when it doesn't live up to your expectations. The solution is to check out a few book review sites before you hit the shops. The greater the diversity of opinions you can gather, the more confidence you can have that you'll enjoy the title.

Which book review and book rating sites are worth considering? Here are the best ones.

1. Goodreads

Goodreads is arguably the leading online community for book lovers. If you want some inspiration for which novel or biography to read next, this is the book review site to visit.

There's an endless number of user-generated reading lists to explore, and Goodreads itself publishes dozens of "best of" lists across a number of categories. You can do a book search by plot or subject , or join book discussions and reading groups with thousands of members.

You can participate in the community by adding your own rankings to books you've read and leaving reviews for other people to check out. Occasionally, there are even bonus events like question and answer sessions with authors.

2. LibraryThing

LibraryThing is the self-proclaimed largest book club in the world. It has more than 2.3 million members and is one of the best social networking platforms for book lovers .

With a free account, you can add up to 200 books to your library and share them with other users. But it's in the other areas where LibraryThing can claim to be one of the best book review sites.

Naturally, there are ratings, user reviews, and tags. But be sure to click on the Zeitgeist tab at the top of the page. It contains masses of information, including the top books by rating, by the number of reviews, by authors, and loads more.

3. Book Riot

Book Riot is a blog. It publishes listicles on dozens of different topics, many of which review the best books in a certain genre. To give you an idea, some recent articles include Keeping Hoping Alive: 11 Thrilling YA Survival Stories and The Best Historical Fiction Books You’ve Never Heard Of .

Of course, there's also plenty of non-reading list content. If you have a general affinity for literature, Book Riot is definitely worth adding to the list of websites you browse every day.

Bookish is a site that all members of book clubs should know about. It helps you prep for your next meeting with discussion guides, book quizzes, and book games. There are even food and drink suggestions, as well as playlist recommendations.

But the site is more than just book club meetings. It also offers lots of editorial content. That comes in the form of author interviews, opinion essays, book reviews and recommendations, reading challenges, and giveaways.

Be sure to look at the Must-Reads section of the site regularly to get the latest book reviews. Also, it goes without saying that the people behind Bookish are book lovers, too. To get a glimpse of what they’re reading, check out their Staff Reads articles.

5. Booklist

Booklist is a print magazine that also offers an online portal. Trusted experts from the American Library Association write all the book reviews.

You can see snippets of reviews for different books. However, to read them in full, you will need to subscribe. An annual plan for this book review site costs $184.95 per year.

6. Fantasy Book Review

Fantasy Book Review should be high on the list for anyone who is a fan of fantasy works. The book review site publishes reviews for both children's books and adults' books.

It has a section on the top fantasy books of all time and a continually updated list of must-read books for each year. You can also search through the recommended books by sub-genres such as Sword and Sorcery, Parallel Worlds, and Epic Fantasy.

7. LoveReading

LoveReading is one of the most popular book review sites in the UK, but American audiences will find it to be equally useful.

The site is divided into fiction and non-fiction works. In each area, it publishes weekly staff picks, books of the month, debuts of the month, ebooks of the month, audiobooks of the month, and the nationwide bestsellers. Each book on every list has a full review that you can read for free.

Make sure you also check out their Highlights tab to get book reviews for selected titles of the month. In Collections , you'll also find themed reading lists such as World War One Literature and Green Reads .

Kirkus has been involved in producing book reviews since the 1930s. This book review site looks at the week's bestselling books, and provides lengthy critiques for each one.

As you'd expect, you'll also find dozens of "best of" lists and individual book reviews across many categories and genres.

And while you're on the site, make sure you click on the Kirkus Prize section. You can look at all the past winners and finalists, complete with the accompanying reviews of their books.

Although Reddit is a social media site, you can use it to get book reviews of famous books, or almost any other book for that matter! Reddit has a Subreddit, r/books, that is dedicated to book reviews and reading lists.

The subreddit has weekly scheduled threads about a particular topic or genre. Anyone can then chip in with their opinions about which books are recommendable. Several new threads are published every day, with people discussing their latest discovery with an accompanying book rating or review.

You'll also discover a weekly recommendation thread. Recent threads have included subjects such as Favorite Books About Climate Science , Literature of Indigenous Peoples , and Books Set in the Desert . There’s also a weekly What are you Reading? discussion and frequent AMAs.

For more social media-like platforms, check out these must-have apps for book lovers .

10. YouTube

YouTube is not the type of place that immediately springs to mind when you think of the best book review sites online.

Nonetheless, there are several engaging YouTube channels that frequently offer opinions on books they've read. You’ll easily find book reviews of famous books here.

Some of the most notable book review YouTube channels include Better Than Food: Book Reviews , Little Book Owl , PolandBananasBooks , and Rincey Reads .

Amazon is probably one of your go-to site when you want to buy something. If you don’t mind used copies, it’s also one of the best websites to buy second-hand books .

Now, to get book reviews, just search and click on a title, then scroll down to see the ratings and what others who have bought the book are saying. It’s a quick way to have an overview of the book’s rating. If you spot the words Look Inside above the book cover, it means you get to preview the first few pages of the book, too!

Regardless of the praises or criticisms you have heard from other book review sites, reading a sample is the most direct way to help you gauge the content’s potential and see whether the author’s writing style suits your tastes.

12. StoryGraph

StoryGraph is another good book review site that's worth checking out. The book rating is determined by the site's large community of readers. Key in the title of a book you're interested in and click on it in StoryGraph's search results to have an overall view of its rating.

Each book review provides information on the moods and pacing of the story. It also indicates whether the tale is plot or character-driven, what readers feel about the extent of character development, how lovable the characters generally are, and the diversity of the cast.

13. London Review of Books

The London Review of Books is a magazine that covers a range of subjects such as culture, literature, and philosophy. Part of its content includes amazingly detailed book reviews. If you feel that most modern book reviews are too brief for your liking, the London Review of Books should suit you best.

You'll gain insight into the flow and themes of the story, as well as a more thorough picture of the events taking place in the book.

Read Book Reviews Before You Buy

The book review sites we've discussed will appeal to different types of readers. Some people will be more comfortable with the easy-to-interpret book rating systems; others will prefer extensive reviews written by experienced professionals.

Although it’s easy to be tempted by a gorgeous book cover, it’s always best to have a quick look at the book reviews before actually buying a copy. This way, you can save your money and spend it on the books that you’ll be proud to display on your shelves for a long time. And check out recommendations, as well, to help you find what's worth reading.

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8 New Books We Recommend This Week

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

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Violence and its impact on writers anchor three of our recommended books this week: Michael Korda offers a group biography of the soldier-poets of World War I, while Kristine Ervin writes about her mother’s murder and Salman Rushdie relives the knife attack that almost took his life two years ago.

We also recommend a history of immigration detention in America and, in fiction, new novels by Leigh Bardugo, Terese Svoboda, Caoilinn Hughes and Julia Alvarez. Happy reading. — Gregory Cowles

KNIFE: Meditations After an Attempted Murder Salman Rushdie

In his candid, plain-spoken and gripping new memoir, Rushdie recalls the attempted assassination he survived in 2022 during a presentation about keeping the world’s writers safe from harm. His attacker had piranhic energy. He also had a knife. Rushdie lost an eye, but he has slowly recovered thanks to the attentive care of doctors and the wife he celebrates here.

“A clarifying book. It reminds us of the threats the free world faces. It reminds us of the things worth fighting for.”

From Dwight Garner’s review

Random House | $28

THE FAMILIAR Leigh Bardugo

A lowly servant girl in 16th-century Spain has a secret: There’s magic in her fingertips, perhaps the kind that anxious kings and other assorted schemers would kill for. The best-selling fantasist Bardugo (“Shadow and Bone”) infuses her new standalone novel with both rich historical detail and a heady sense of place and romance.

“Her prose mirrors the Baroque setting, her sentences lush and embroidered with pearls. ... Reading Bardugo is an immersive, sensual experience”

From Danielle Trussoni’s review

Flatiron | $29.99

ROXY AND COCO Terese Svoboda

The titular sisters in Svoboda’s new novel are modern-day harpies, of mythological renown: half-woman, half-bird, fearsome creatures. They’re also social workers, and their very long life’s work is the consideration of children who have been abandoned, neglected or worse.

“Svoboda’s novel comes close to suggesting that people really are for the birds. And yet, some of the most moving moments in ‘Roxy and Coco’ happen between creatures who are desperate for care.”

From Hilary Leichter's review

West Virginia University Press | Paperback, $21.99

IN THE SHADOW OF LIBERTY: The Invisible History of Immigrant Detention in the United States Ana Raquel Minian

The American government has a long record of detaining migrants in places that are, legally speaking, black sites. Minian traces immigration detention from the late 1800s through the present via the stories of four figures, showing how absurd and arbitrary the system can be.

“Storytelling allows Minian to convey the physical and emotional toll of detention with potent specificity. The result is a book-length plea against dehumanization, at least for those who are willing to listen.”

From Jennifer Szalai’s review

Viking | $32

THE ALTERNATIVES Caoilinn Hughes

This novel features four 30-something Irish sisters, all with Ph.D.s and all lonely or a little bit lost in some way. When the oldest of them goes (voluntarily) missing and her younger sisters team up to investigate, Hughes has the catalyst for a witty, bittersweet and often stylistically bold exploration of blood ties and chosen family.

“‘The Alternatives’ is a bold, beautiful, complex novel, and I can’t wait to read what Hughes writes next. She, too, is an unstoppable force.”

From S. Kirk Walsh’s review

Riverhead | $28

THE CEMETERY OF UNTOLD STORIES Julia Alvarez

Returning to her Dominican homeland after decades in America, a weary novelist decides to build a literal graveyard for all her failed and unrealized tales in the lively latest from Alvarez (“In the Time of the Butterflies”), who continues to fuse magical realism with warm humanism.

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Book review: joseph epstein’s excellent ‘never say you’ve had a lucky life’.

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Looks can be deceiving. Don’t judge a book by its cover. The grass isn’t always greener. Insert your line here for responses to the presumption that someone has it better, or that some situation is better.

My comment as has always been that in looking at others who on the surface seem to have it all figured out, we ascribe perfection or near perfection to situations that aren’t as great as we imagine. As in, on the surface all marriages seem so loving, and all parents seem so confident and happy. Only for life to teach us that looks most certainly can be deceiving.

I found myself thinking about these things while reading the great Joseph Epstein’s excellent new memoir, Never Say You’ve Had a Lucky Life: Especially If You’ve Had a Lucky Life . I’ve been reading Epstein’s fabulous columns in the Wall Street Journal for years, I’ve read one of his books (about charm, review here ) but plan to read many more, and I say this as a way of acknowledging that in reading him all of this time, I developed a perception of him that has run counter to my reply that an individual’s surface qualities rarely tell the whole story.

In my imagining, Epstein grew up in a house full of deep conversations about big ideas, that he got straight As in school before attending a prominent university of the Ivy League variety, and that he subsequently married one woman and raised with this woman really well-behaved, really wise kids. About Epstein, I assumed he’s lived a life free of the warts and bad decisions that shape the lives of so many. Epstein’s brilliant writing quite simply gave me the impression that he was different, that his life had been largely free of the personal frailty and failings that define the lives of so many.

Which is one of many reasons his memoir is so good. Underneath Epstein’s brilliance is a real person, someone whose actual life has been reflective of my view that it’s a mistake to ascribe excellent decisions, ease, and eternal happiness to most anyone. Charmed lives are a myth. Memory says that in a book review that Epstein himself once wrote about a book covering the life of Cary Grant, that Epstein wrote something of a similar, knowing bent, that Grant’s life separate from the image wasn’t so great, nor was Cary Grant actually Cary Grant in the figurative sense. Finally getting to the point (?), I’d without thinking deeply about it thought that Epstein had lived the intellectual version of the life that people imagined Grant had lived.

In reality, and at risk of being seriously trite, life is real. It’s messy at times. While Epstein happily contends that his own life has been defined by “extraordinarily good luck, in the time in which I was born, in the parents to whom I was born, in my education, and much more,” all is perhaps not as it may seem? For instance, he writes that “my brother and I were never at the center of my mother’s or father’s lives,” and that “the parents of our generation were nowhere near so child-centered as subsequent generations of parents.” More on the latter in a bit.

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About his brother, Epstein somewhat casually notes that he hasn’t been in touch with him in years, and that his mother never read any of his books. To be clear, I’m not revealing these anecdotes to question the title of Epstein’s book, or his frequent assertions about a lucky life that continues to this day. I merely mention them as a way of hopefully bolstering Epstein’s point that even the very lucky lives have their serious warts, that all once again isn’t as it seems, but that the unfortunate, sad and tragic isn’t an excuse for individuals to wallow in what’s unfortunate. And this is true for everyone. In my case, I always knew I was at the center of the lives of my parents (born four and six years after Epstein), but would guess they’ve likely not read my books either!

Ok, but wasn’t Epstein raised by extreme intellectuals? It turns out no. While his father was a great salesman, and owned his own business such that the Chicagoland-based Epsteins were “petit bourgeois,” he didn’t grow up having discussions about War and Peace , or Crime and Punishment , or the deep thoughts of high-end policy writers. Epstein reports that “I have no recollection of ever having brought a book home to study,” and this reflected in his grades: at Nicholas Senn High School he recalls that he “rarely received a grade above a C.” During a senior year train trip to Washington, D.C., Epstein admits that “I never left the train to visit the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and other national buildings and monuments, but remained aboard with friends playing cards.”Most of Epstein’s intellectual evolution took place years after leaving home.

Back to his parents, business was on his father’s mind, including aphorisms like “Always keep a low overhead,” “Never run away from business,” and “You can’t argue with success.” Epstein argued with the latter while embracing the former (“I still find it hard to turn down a writing assignment” – he’ll be hearing from me…), plus they argued politics, including the merits (or lack thereof) of a balanced budget. Epstein’s father was in favor of balance, while his son was not. At least in his twenties. He concludes in his eighties that his father “turned out to be right: all things considered, balanced is better.” Epstein the writer should have stuck to his guns. It matters not a bit how wealth is extracted from the private sector (whether through taxes or borrowing), the only thing that matters is how much is extracted. In other words, an annual budget of $5 trillion that is in balance is much more freedom sapping and economically crippling than an annual budget of $1 trillion where $500 billion of it is borrowed.

As for Epstein’s mother, she took what Epstein describes as “the commercial course”: typing, dictation, bookkeeping, etc. Which means Epstein’s mother took practical courses, and realistically the only relevant ones. I’m sorry, but learnedness is a choice, not an effect of education. Typing remains the most valuable high school course I ever took.

Even at University of Illinois, Epstein was hardly a deep-in-thought type. He was even kicked out after taking part in a plan to sell copies of a stolen exam to different fraternities. The good news is that life was different then? Instead of a career or education killer (that’s probably not even true today, thankfully), Epstein eventually moved on to the University of Chicago, which truly changed him. At least that’s what he says. Epstein writes that after a year there, “I no longer believed that success in life was marked by large bank accounts, handsome houses in approved neighborhoods, flashy cars.” My guess is that Epstein didn’t require time at Chicago to change his views of life, but it seemingly accelerated the process. Someone who formerly couldn’t be bothered to bring books home, someone whose high school years were defined by “gambling, whoring, bugging, smoking, laughing,” was suddenly deeply immersed in great books and deep thought. And for this, we get to enjoy endlessly good and entertaining writing.

At the same time, there was still a life to be lived. Epstein was drafted into the Army, but thankfully not at a time of war. About the latter, he wrote that “engaging in war is viewed differently if some of those boots were to be filled by your own youthful children and grandchildren.” He adds that “A truly American military, inclusive of all social classes, would cause politicians and voters to be selective in choosing which battles are worth fighting and at what expense.” Amen. Thousands of times over. About this, I DO think some of the hawkishness on the U.S. right is rooted in the reality that the children and relatives close to the laptop hawks aren’t as likely to be filling the proverbial boots on the ground. In my case, I’m a Cobdenite. I’m a believer that free trade is the greatest foreign policy that mankind ever conceived, and that we should be unilaterally opening the U.S. up to all foreign production, including social media sites like TikTok that have conservatives so anxious. My view is that if the horrors of war were more evenly spread across all U.S. social classes, that more would share my views. Let’s call TikTok a peaceful shield of sorts, and one made that way by its immense popularity in the U.S.

While in the Army, and after Fort Hood in Killeen, TX, Epstein was transferred to Little Rock, AR Arweave . It was from Arkansas that Epstein published his first magazine article (on race relations for the New Leader ), but for the purposes of this review, it’s where Epstein met his first wife. Notable here is that while this was Epstein’s first marriage, it was his wife’s third. She would eventually have five husbands. She brought two buys into the marriage. Epstein reports that his father objected based on age and religion, and that surprised me. Really, the whole marriage surprised me in light of the Epstein readers know now. It just didn’t sound like him. I don’t mean this critically. See the front of this review to understand what I mean. Epstein’s writing screams wise , but in this case a very young Epstein made a marital choice that doesn’t sound like his opinion pieces. Life is bumpy, which is the point. Don’t judge books by their cover, right?

Epstein’s will surprise you because even the lucky lives their difficult periods. As the previous paragraph alludes, Epstein’s first marriage didn’t last. In his words, marriages of his era “have been our second marriages.” As mentioned earlier, I ascribed what Epstein describes as “real marriage” to him on the first try. Except that no one is as they seem. I also imagined Epstein the eternally doting parent, but by Epstein’s own admission, “I am one of those fellows for whom work comes first – always had been, still am. A full-time husband or, for that matter, full-court press father, I could never be.” I imagined differently. In writing what I imagined, my hope once again is that my imaginings won’t be read as disappointment. No. I again believe that we frequently and errantly imagine perfection within others that doesn’t exist. Which means I’m the person I’m describing in that I do it too.

Epstein’s first wife as mentioned already had two boys, and it’s very had to contemplate what their mother’s troubles must have meant for them. Epstein also had two boys with the first wife. One became a big success in financial services, but the other, Burt, died of an overdose. Burt fathered a child before the overdose, but the ever truthful Epstein admits he wouldn’t see this grandchild at first. Eventually they had a loving and enriching grandfather/granddaughter relationship, but yes, I was still surprised to read there was ever a time he wouldn’t see her. Again, his life wasn’t what I expected considering such occasional sadness (Burt’s overdose, no contact with stepsons, a suicide admittedly before he was born of Epstein’s mother’s father), but Epstein’s willingness to share the difficult parts speaks yet again to what a great memoir it is. While he views his life as somewhat “emblematic of the times,” but also very lucky, he’s yet again making the crucial point to people of all ages that a great and lucky life is not without extreme difficulty.

It brings to mind David Frum’s book on the 1970s, How We Got Here . This was the first book (I read it when I was 30, and still single) I ever read that said “love” wasn’t a fairy tale, that generations past in the U.S. had expected love to be a lot of work, and frequently bereft of all the “soulmate” stuff, the feeling stuff. Maybe this is Epstein’s point? While life is never easy, it seems he’s of the old mindset that it’s supposed to be hard at times. Which is right. He writes that “mine was a happy childhood, lived on playgrounds.” I read the latter, and found myself wanting many others to read his book, Jonathan Haidt in particular.

Haidt can be found not infrequently on the same editorial page that Epstein can be found on, and because he can be, I’ve had occasion to rebut his pessimism about today’s youth more than once. Haidt is looking for victims. While most couldn’t analyze the psyche of the street they live on, Haidt claims an ability via endless academic studies to analyze a whole generation of young people. He says smartphones have made young people depressed, anti-social, etc. This digression is important mainly because I’ll wager Epstein smirks at Haidt’s alarmism.

Again, warts and all he felt his childhood was happy, and lucky, as has his life been since. Crucial here is that Epstein came up in what he describes as “non-therapeutic age.” Yes!!! Here’s hoping Haidt finds time in between fawning media appearances and book reviews to read Epstein. He then might see that depression, shame about one’s body, and a desire for solitude didn’t begin with the iPhone, Instagram and texting. Neither did depression. Childhood has always been a challenge, but in non-therapeutic ages kids weren’t so thoroughly analyzed. No doubt Epstein had his down moments too as a teen, but in his era there wasn’t enough wealth to support the work of people like Haidt (nor admittedly my work, nor Epstein’s!) and those creating the studies Haidt cites about how allegedly sad and isolated young people are. Basically Epstein got through his teen years intact, as most do. Rest assured that the Gen Zers whose alleged sadness has Haidt anxious will similarly get through the difficulties of being a teen, only to thrive as past American generations have. Today’s affected, occasionally depressed, smartphone obsessed teens will live to have their own worries about their own kids, only for future Haidts to feed their needless alarmism about the technology that will surely replace the smartphone, Facebook and texting. If we live in a therapeutic age now, imagine the future!

Which brings up a quibble with Epstein. While there’s no disagreement that today’s youth are way over-analyzed, he writes of children brought up today as “eminently fragile creatures.” I’d like to think he could be convinced otherwise. Young people as fragile, lazy, entitled, and countless other pejoratives is as old as American youth is. It’s called progress . In a nation defined by near constant wealth creation dating back to its beginning, it’s only natural that young people appear soft (or are raised softly) in comparison to their elders. Surely Epstein has read “A Message to Garcia”? The point here is that even the grandparents of the alleged “Greatest Generation” were viewed as soft and lazy and unable to take orders. Progress yet again. If American youth are ever viewed as serious and hard, we’ll know we’re in decline.

Along the lines of progress, it seems Epstein’s successful father couldn’t quite grasp that his son could be paid for his thoughts. About this, let’s call “they pay you to do that?” the six most bullish words in the English language. Not long before Epstein’s father died, and while in the car with him, Epstein told him he’d been invited to speak at the University of Pennsylvania. The fee was $5,000 for a fifty minute talk. Dad was astonished it seems, worried and skeptical too. In Epstein’s words, “The country had to be in one hell of a sorry condition if they were passing out that kind of dough for mere talk from his son.” Yes! Progress. As wealth grows, the range of ways we can earn it grows, as do the range of ways that we can showcase our intelligence in the workplace. What had Epstein pere skeptical should have had him wildly optimistic.

Why was Epstein’s father “never a very engaged parent”? It’s a question I ask over and over again, and have been asking it long before reading Epstein’s memoir. Why did The Great Santini resonate with my dad’s generation (my dad, USNA ’65, had a rather militaristic, Great Santini-style father who was USNA ’37), but why would it not resonate with the young people of today? Epstein’s father was by no means at all mean, but clearly his parenting style was different. I keep asking this because I’m writing a book called The Reluctant Father . My own guess is that the answer is economic. Life really and truly was much more uncertain long ago, and this reflected in how parents parented. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I think parents helicopter nowadays because they can. Yes, progress.

Some readers of this review, or analysis, or self-analysis within an analysis, are no doubt wondering (assuming they’ve read this far) when – if ever – the alleged reviewer will get to Epstein’s wonderful writing. It’s a reasonable question, but then Epstein has published a memoir , and there’s much to be taken from it that has relevance beyond the writing.

Epstein writes a fifth of the way through the book that “no new cars were produced during the war.” He was writing about WWII. Readers know the reason why. Production was directed toward war materials. This requires prominent mention simply because economists who should surely know better (?) claim near-monolithically that WWII and all the spending ended the Great Depression. Such a view, in addition to being horrific, surely insults stupid.

As Epstein makes plain, production was much less market-driven during the war, and far more government driven. And the production was geared toward weaponry meant to kill and maim, all the while destroying wealth. Which is a reminder that war is by its very name what crushes economic growth. It’s not just that we’re killing potential customers while losing our own best and brightest, it’s that we’re exterminating the very “hands” and “minds” around the world that we, if there were no war, could work in concert with on the way to great productivity leaps.

Taking this further, in writing about his Judaism, Epstein grew up feeling he was part of “a very superior club, one whose members over the centuries survived the most vicious persecutions, while accounting for some of the world’s most impressive scientific, artistic and intellectual achievements.” And WWII was particularly hard on members of this Club. Stop and think about this with the popular view among economists that WWII was economically stimulative top of mind. Can they be serious? What could the economy have done in the 1940s, and what could it have done since if millions of frequently talented people hadn’t been tragically murdered? Economists who believe that war has a growth upside rate our endless scorn. Which means economists rate our scorn.

After which, Epstein’s pride in his superior club rates mention for his pride (and his memoirs overall) revealing the opposite of victimhood. Awful things occasionally inserted themselves in Epstein’s lucky life, but this didn’t stop him. Terrible things happened to the Jews in total, yet they’ve thrived. I bring this up as a member of the right who believes the right increasingly embraces the very victimhood that it decries in the left. Schools, the media, Democrats, liberals, professors, they’re all out to get us, or hurt us, or “ruin” this great country. The Jews went through much worse, only to once again thrive. It’s not even close. The right needs to stop whining.

Ok, we can get to the writing. And the insights. Epstein writes that “the least marriageable man is the fifty-year old bachelor who has never married.” These types are too critical. We learn that “savant idiots” are “intellectually dazzling figures who get all important things wrong.” Yes! I’ll be using that more than a lot in my writing life.

In a lunch with Robert Manning at The Atlantic , Epstein recalls that Manning had two carafes of wine without listening to anything Epstein said. Where are the Mannings of today?

There were words/phrases that Epstein wouldn’t allow into American Scholar , the magazine of Phi Beta Kappa. They included “impact,” “in terms of, “as it were,” and “weasel words like ‘arguably.’” I worry I’ve used them all over the years.

Writing about Frankie Sommers, a friend from childhood, Epstein describes him as “a boy two years older than I.” Why this? Because in books and columns it’s routine nowadays to read “two years older than me.” I write older than I, and was gratified to find in Epstein evidence that I’m correct, while writers and editors increasingly are not.

Surprisingly, but probably a comment on how little editing help any writer gets anymore from publishers, on p. 227 Epstein wrote of “all the things I could with the annual interest” on a $2 million contribution to American Scholar. The contribution was ultimately refused ahead of Epstein losing his perch there, but it seems “do” was left out between could and with.

Epstein happily doesn’t consider himself conservative or right wing, rather he’s part of the “anti-bullshit party.” Good.

Epstein retired as an instructor (not tenure track) at Northwestern in 2002, when “political correctness had not yet kicked in.” That didn’t read as true. John L’Heureux had already published the wildly funny The Handmaid of Desire about the PC movement at Stanford in the 1990s, David Lodge had written Changing Places about loony left-wingers at Berkeley in the 1960s, William F. Buckley had of course published God and Man at Yale in the 1950s, and then anecdotally, the movement was alive and well during my time at the University of Texas from 1988-1992, and during which I was shouted at for being “David Duke” after running for campus president on a platform that included ending affirmative action. About all this, I strongly feel the right has vastly overplayed its hand on political correctness and affirmative action not because I support either, but because I think they shouldn’t go to courts to fix preferential treatment, and then I think they well overstate the pervasiveness of left-wingery on campus in order to secure donor dollars. Sorry, but college life looks as it always has: largely glorious. I base this on my own experiences speaking about – yes – the glories of wealth inequality to college students whom members of the right claim are near monolithically socialist. Nah, the kids are alright. Life isn’t that bad. Particularly not life in the United States.

As Epstein’s wonderful book inches to conclusion, he writes that his disappointments in life are “too trivial to mention: that I cannot play the piano, that I’m not a superior tennis player, that I never learned ancient Greek.” These are the words of a lucky man , but much more important, a lucky man who knows it, and who doesn’t dwell on life’s inevitable difficulties. Very lucky for us is that we have Joseph Epstein and all his brilliant writings. Read them, buy the books, and buy his memoir.

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Geek Review: Apple MacBook Pro 16 M3 Max (2023), 6 Months Later

I t was an afternoon at the library, with around two hours to burn. After securing a seat, and opening the (relatively) new MacBook Pro 16 M3 Max (MBP) 16-inch, imagine the surprise of seeing that it only had 18 per cent of power left. Someone forgot to charge it the night before, and that’s the downside of using a machine that can last over 15 hours of extended use – keeping the device charged up is no longer a priority since it can keep going for a pretty long time.

After five months of using Apple’s latest MBP powered by its latest M3 Max processor, and five years after making the switch from PC to Mac from a lifetime of Windows use, there is absolutely nothing to miss about the slow, power-hungry, bulky monstrosities that have come to define the competition. On the other hand, MacBooks are some of the most convenient, easy-to-use, and now, portable machines available to the everyday user, with the powerful MBP 16 offering everything you can ever need for being on the go.

Even at that low rate of battery life left, this MBP 16 chugged on staunchly, connecting to the Wi-Fi and performing as expected for the next 100-plus minutes for web surfing, and partially typing out this review. That’s close to two solid hours of work performance, and few, if even any, laptops can provide something so amazing with what would have been a heart-stopping 18 per cent of juice left.

Since the tech giant debuted its own Apple silicon M chip, each iteration has outperformed the previous and the current M3 is no different. For those who remain unconvinced with performance and prefer statistics, Apple M3 chips has transitioned to the 3nm fabrication process, over the 5nm on the M2 family of chips, which is represented by the jump in transistor count, to 25 billion now compared to 20 billion before. That’s a whopping 25 per cent increase in hardware performance and it was well represented our benchmarks when we tested it during launch .

So convinced about the new chips, Apple has launched three versions – the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max. For those looking at better performance, the M3 Pro and M3 Max machines are the way to go and the three chips are available for the MacBook Pro 14 models. For the larger MacBook Pro 16, you can opt for either the M3 Pro or M3 Max versions. There’s a price point for every user and choices start from the preconfigured 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU with 8GB of Unified memory base models of the M3 powered MBP 14, and 12-core CPU, 18-core GPU with 18GB of Unified Memory of the M3 Pro powered MBP 16. The preconfigured M3 Max MBP 14 peaks with the 14-core CPU, 30-core GPU with 36GB of Unified Memory, while the M3 Max MBP 16 offers up to 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU with 48GB of Unified Memory, which is this review unit. Of course, you can choose to upgrade things further at a price.

So what do all these numbers represent? Well, benchmarks only tell one part of the story, and the only way to present performance data is contextual and lucky for us, we have three machines running on M3, to give us a sense of what is happening under the hood. Using Adobe Premiere Pro, we converted a fully fleshed-out 5-minute project consisting of 4K footage, B-rolls and animations, from our “Spider-Man 2 CE Unboxing”, and exported it to MP4.

The result? The iMac on M3 took 6 minutes and 15 seconds to do the job, while the MBP 14 took a slightly shorter 5 minutes and 23 seconds. On this bad boy, it took just 2 minutes and 39 seconds, which is more than half the time on the iMac, and half that on the MBP 14.

This performance does come at a price, and at S$5,896.20, the top-end MBP 16 does command a certain premium but it’s a workhorse that will continue to deliver, much like how the MBP 16 M1 still continues to serve faithfully. Visually, the only thing differentiating this iteration is the new Space Black colour option that just adds new layers of appreciation to the already iconic silver and grey options from previous Mac laptops. At first glance, the black is more a dark grey, especially when light bounces off the aluminium frame, but with the processing capabilities coursing through this elegantly designed and coloured device, it’s in a state of beauty of its own, separate from the plastic black chassis that dominate most other brands of laptops.

Once opened, the 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display around the 35.57cm by 24.81cm by 1.68cm machine easily takes prominence, offering 4K (3,456 x 2,234) native resolution at 254 pixels per inch that delivers rich, crisp and beautiful colours. From streaming movies and TV shows via the usual services, or playing videos games via Steam or Epic Games Store, the display tackles video content of every type with ease, with as much ease as connecting your AirPods. For the uninitiated, all your Apple devices will instantly recognise your AirPods when it’s connected to one device with your Apple ID, and you can easily toggle it to jump from iPhone to iPad to MacBook. Sadly, you do have to deal with the centre-set notch at the top of the display that houses the camera, as it prevents appreciation of full-screen content.

For gamers out there holding back until Apple starts to get serious about having high quality, performing titles on the platform, there is unfortunately very little in terms of anything new to add. While Apple silicon is certainly capable of running the latest AAA titles, Apple has opted to bring top games on a title by title basis, so while you’ll still be faced with incompatible warnings on Steam and Epic Game Store on games that cannot run on Mac, you can play select titles including Death Stranding Director’s Cut and Resident Evil Village. During Apple CEO Tim Cook’s recent visit to Singapore, we did get a chance to ask him about the current situation and while he did say it was a priority, he did not go into details . 

Portability with the device is also not an issue once you know about the ecosystem. The 2.16kg M3 Max models (2.14kg for the M3 Pro version) comes with a SDXC card slot, HDMI port and Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) on the right edge, and MagSafe 3, 2 x Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) and 3.5mm headphone jack on the left. You’ll still need an adaptor if you want to connect to a Ethernet cable, or need to plug in more USB type devices, but the machine is both for use in and out of the home.

The M3 Max model supports up to four external displays – with three external displays at 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt, and the last one with up to 4K resolution at 144Hz across HDMI.

It can do up to three external displays, with two external displays with 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt, and either the last one at 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz over HDMI. That’s a lot of display options and ostensibly, such a set-up would cater for the use of more hubs as needed. On the go, the device offers 22 of content watching across Apple TV and while we didn’t put it to the test, the machine easily surpassed the 15 hours of wireless web use, as we were listening to Spotify and doing word processing on the move. 

The unit comes packed with a 140W USB‑C power adapter capable of fast charging, as we as a USB‑C to MagSafe 3 cable for charging. While we love the magnetic cable, there have been instances when the cable connects, but doesn’t charge. It takes a bit of jostling and awareness to see if the tiny orange light shows up, so we prefer to use this at home, and bring out a 100W USB-C cable for outdoor use as a physical connection works every time. 

Given its heft and price, the MBP 16 isn’t for everyone. Students looking for performance and power can opt for the M3 MacBook Air models, and should they want something more, there’s the MBP 14 M3 or M3 Pro that is more portable and affordable. The MBP 16 is the best-in-class device for professionals who need the power, real estate and performance at any time, and don’t mind bringing it around everywhere.

Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?

The post Geek Review: Apple MacBook Pro 16 M3 Max (2023), 6 Months Later appeared first on Geek Culture .

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Kristi Noem’s story of killing her dog points to class two misdemeanor

South Dakota governor’s account of family dog Cricket killing neighbor’s chickens may be an offence, according to state law

Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor and Republican vice-presidential hopeful, may have committed a class two misdemeanor offence when her fated dog Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehair pointer Noem deemed “untrainable” for hunting pheasant, killed a neighbor’s chickens.

Under South Dakota law, “any person owning, keeping, or harboring a dog that chases, worries, injures, or kills any poultry or domestic animal is guilty of a class two misdemeanor and is liable for damages to the owner thereof for any injury caused by the dog to any such poultry or animal.”

Though Cricket’s chicken attack has made headlines in recent days, however, it was not the main subject of such reports.

Instead, Noem’s startling description of her decision to kill Cricket – and also an unnamed, un-castrated and unruly goat – has pitched her into an unprecedented political storm.

The story is included in Noem’s new book , No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward.

The book will be released next month. Last week, the Guardian obtained a copy and reported the passage in which Noem describes killing Cricket and the goat after Cricket first ruined a pheasant hunt, then killed the chickens.

“I hated that dog,” Noem writes, before describing how she shot Cricket and the goat in the same gravel pit, the goat having to be shot twice, the second shotgun blast after Noem left the goat to fetch more shells from her truck.

Noem says what she thought she had to do was not “pleasant”, and describes how her actions startled a construction crew and confused her young daughter.

She also seems to acknowledge the possible effects of including the story in her book, writing: “I guess if I were a better politician I wouldn’t tell the story here.”

News of Noem’s tale did indeed set off a political firestorm , with observers suggesting she had irrevocably damaged her chances of being named running mate to Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president who faces 88 felony charges of his own and was adjudicated a rapist but nonetheless maintains his grip on his party.

Noem twice defended her account of killing Cricket and the goat, saying as she does in the book that such actions are sometimes necessary in farming, and show her willingness to do difficult things in life as well as in politics.

But each defense added to her problems.

In the first statement, Noem both referred to recently putting down three horses and advertised her book, promising “more real, honest and politically incorrect stories that’ll have the media gasping”. That drew accusations of insensitivity.

In her second statement, Noem said she could “understand why some people are upset about a 20-year-old story of Cricket” but added: “The fact is, South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down.

“Given that Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them” – Noem says the dog “whipped around to bite me” after killing the chickens – “I decided what I did.”

In a separate section of South Dakota’s codified laws, the definition of livestock makes no mention of poultry, which would have meant the law did not apply to Noem.

But asked about a South Dakota legislature definition that says livestock “means cattle, sheep, horses, mules, swine, goats, and buffalo”, omitting chickens or poultry in general, Ian Fury, Noem’s communications chief, advised the Guardian to “take a look at SDCL 40-34-1 and 40-34-2.”

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When the Guardian did, questions arose.

Section 40-34-1 of the South Dakota codified laws – Killing of dog lawful when disturbing domestic animals – says : “It shall be lawful for any person to kill any dog found chasing, worrying, injuring, or killing poultry or domestic animals except on the premises of the owners of said dog or dogs.”

Noem writes that she killed Cricket on her own property.

The following section – 40-34-2, Liability of owner for damages by dog disturbing domestic animals – seems to contain greater potential legal jeopardy.

It says : “Any person owning, keeping, or harboring a dog that chases, worries, injures, or kills any poultry or domestic animal is guilty of a class two misdemeanor and is liable for damages to the owner thereof.”

In her book, Noem writes that she apologised to the family that owned the chickens Cricket killed, “wrote them a check for the price they asked, and helped them dispose of the carcasses littering the scene of the crime”.

Asked if SDCL 40-34-2 indicated that Noem might have committed a class two misdemeanor, Fury did not immediately comment.

The South Dakota laws apparently applicable to the case of Noem and Cricket were passed before the dog’s death.

In her weekend statement, Noem said her story was 20 years old. That would place it in 2004, when she was in her early 30s, three years before she entered South Dakota state politics and six years before she won a seat in Congress as part of the hard-right Tea Party wave . Noem was elected governor of South Dakota in 2018.

South Dakota was the last of the 50 states to make animal cruelty a felony, passing legislation in 2014.

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